Earth Colony 'Victoria'
5 hours before Major Tanner's team launched their search-and-rescue mission
The quiet dawn of Victoria was interrupted by the loud wake-up call standard on Colonial settlements. Throughout the compound tired civilians and soldiers arose and began preparing for the day's activities. Among them was the garrison commander Captain Leo Young.
The young Captain walked slowly and groggily to his personal shower, something afforded to few on the planet. Rank did have its privileges. After a cold shower Captain Young shaved and donned his uniform, armor, and sidearm.
After exiting his room he watched people walking through the crowded concrete halls of the Primary Colony Control Building while he considered going to the mess hall. Eventually he decided that whatever the Mess was serving wasn't worth battling the breakfast crowd and headed to the Control room instead
The men and women inside rose to attention and saluted.
"At ease. What have I missed?" He asked as he looked at the holographic display in the center of the room. Everyone returned to their duties and another uniformed man walked up and handed him a computer tablet.
"Good morning Lieutenant." He said to his second-in-command, Lieutenant Andre Martin as he began scrolling through the night report.
"Good morning to you too, sir." He replied back in french-accented English. Motioning to the tablet, he continued. "At 2350 hours we had a motion sensor on the security perimeter report movement but it turned out one of the settlers was drunk and lost. At 0210 hours a crate of emergency transponders was stolen, and at 0545 a woman was brought into the infirmary after having a heart attack."
"Was the woman sent back to Earth?" he asked. Lieutenant Martin nodded his head.
"Yes, sir. Dr. Hames said he didn't think the infirmary here had the proper equipment. Again." Said the French officer, annoyance clear in his voice.
Captain Young gave an annoyed sigh in kind. "I swear that man complains about equipment at every opportunity. If I listened to him all the time I'd be sending people back to Earth for paper cuts. I really miss Dr. Anniston. Now she had skill."
Before the Lieutenant could respond the motion sensor system began squealing. One of the soldiers responsible for operating the security system spoke up as well. "Captain Young, something just tripped two motion sensors on the Northwest side of the perimeter."
Young and Martin walked over to look over the operator's shoulders. Sure enough two red lights had appeared in a string of green lights that lined the perimeter fence. Young looked to another operator.
"Check the thermal cameras and contact the guards at the towers closest to the tripped sensors." The woman he spoke to nodded her head and began looking through the thermal cameras. Lieutenant Martin walked over to the wall-mounted phone and called a guard tower. After a moment he handed the phone over to Captain Young.
"This is Young, go."
"Captain Young, this is Sergeant Stevens. My snipers aren't picking up anything on their night vision... wait what? Captain, wait one." Said the Sergeant as someone else in the guard tower got his attention. For a long, tense moment Young waited for the sergeant's voice to return.
Finally it did. "Captain, we may have a problem. Request operators check thermal camera Thirty-what is that? Oh my god, move move move MOVE! Get out of the tower!" he shouted. A muffle explosion was heard and the phone went dead. Vibrations resounded throughout the settlement.
"What the hell was that?" Young yelled as the emergency klaxons blared. He hung up the phone and ran to the PA system.
"All military personnel report to your combat positions, all civilians report to bunkers. This is not a drill, I repeat this not a drill!" The entire control room had come alive. Within minutes the Rapid Reaction Team had reached the Control Room and were waiting for orders.
Captain young chambered a round in his sidearm and walked towards the door. "RRT, with me. We're going to Tower Seven. Lieutenant Martin you're in charge here. I want you to relay instructions between me and the Security Detail. Have them hold position until I say otherwise. I'm on channel Two."
The Captain walked through the heavy blast doors and down the hall to the nearest exit. The Rapid Reaction Team followed, switching their radios to his channel.
As the soldiers stepped out into the light of dawn, they squinted before heading off towards a pillar of smoke. They sprinted through the alleys of steel and concrete buildings and came out into the open area cut around the settlement's outskirts to allow good visibility. They looked down the double chain link fence towards the smoking heap of concrete, steel rebar, and fire. They approached quickly, some men taking up defensive positions while most, including the medics, began sifting through rubble as they searched for their friends.
After several minutes of digging a hand was unearthed from under a large piece of concrete. A soldier with a red and white cross on his arm felt for a pulse, and began shouting.
"I've got a pulse! This one's alive!" As soon as he said that most of the search party began furiously digging at the rubble trapping the soldier. Moments later an unconscious man was pulled out and placed on a stretcher. As they began heading towards the infirmary, gunshots sounded from all across the camp.
Captain Young's radio began crackling with yelling. "What the hell's going on? Lieutenant report!" he said into his radio.
"I don't know, sir. We have motion sensors tripped all along the fence. I've lost contact with towers One and Three. Defense Teams One, Two, Four, and Five are reporting contact."
It was almost at that exact moment a panicked voice came over the radio. Captain Young recognized it as Sergeant Wells, the man in charge of Defense Team Six, the one defending the civilian bunker.
"They're in the wire! Repeat they are in the wire!" Yelled the Sergeant over the radio. Machine gun and P90 fire forced him to practically scream to be heard, emphasizing the direness of his situation.
"Reaction Team, you are to stay here and continue rescue ops. McKinney, Brown, York, on me. We're going to the bunker!" The three soldiers he had selected filed behind him and nodded. As they were leaving Young saw one of the sentries guarding the rescuers open fire at unseen targets.
Captain Young made as straight a line as was possible in the relatively tight alleys of colonial settlements. After what seemed like an eternity his force came to the entrance that led to the underground bunker built for the civilian population. It wasn't large on the surface, as that would gain unwanted attention, but underground it could protect, if filled completely, up to ten thousand people.
The steel door protecting the entrance was heavily damaged. It looked like it had been shot with large caliber weapons and then pried open. Gunfire could be heard from inside. Young held up a fist to signal his men to stop.
He moved his hand to his radio and silenced it. Motioning with his hands for him men to follow, he cautiously but quickly reached the other end of the small clearing and began covering his men as they followed suite.
Leaning around the corner, Young looked inside. He saw blood on the far walls. On the floor was a rather shiny robot. Bullet holes were evident in the rear of its head.
"What the hell?" he whispered. Slowly, he entered, borrowed P90 at the ready. Scanning the room he saw no one else inside. He moved to the door that opened to stairs that led into the bunker complex.
He entered the stairwell with his men following closely behind. Now screaming could be heard in addition to the gunfire erupting down below. A lot of screaming. The soldiers quickened their pace as much as the need for stealth would allow.
Soon enough they were down the stairs and looking at the door leading directly into the living quarters. The bodies of his men were on the floor, weapons in hand. There were several more robots on the floor beside them. Large gunshot wounds and claw marks covered their bodies. Corporal Brown checked their pulses and shook his head.
On the opposite side of the door they were greeted by a horrific sight. Dozens of the shiny robots were breaking down doors and killing the occupants inside their rooms. The soldiers positioned themselves to attack and waited for Captain Young's orders.
They didn't have to wait long.
"Waste the fuckers." Without hesitation they all opened fire, four machines dropped in quick succession. Changing targets they continued firing. The machines were quick to react, aiming their arm-mounted machine guns at the door. Corporal York was hit almost immediately. Blood spurted out of a neck wound as Captain Young dragged him out of the line of fire.
Before he could call for Brown, the young man was dead. A bullet had passed through his right eye. Abandoning the body, Captain Young returned to shooting back at metallic soldiers that had killed York. Sergeant McKinney's machine gun barked loudly in his ear as the large man fired angrily.
He managed to down another five machines himself before his gun jammed. He looked down long enough to see the impacts of bullets as they rode up the gun in a line. A line that ended with his heart. The soldier dropped instantly, a look of shock etched on his face.
"Fall back! Fall back!" yelled the Captain as he pulled Corporal Brown down beside him, firing the whole time. Less than a second later, a rocket-propelled grenade impacted where the young soldier had just been standing.
The shockwave forced Young on his back, but he regained his footing quickly and tossed a grenade through the door. A loud explosion sounded and smoke billowed out of the doorway. Young looked inside and quickly pulled his head back when a string of bullets grazed his cheek.
Inside the screaming grew quieter as the robots advanced deeper into the hall that held living quarters. Young and Corporal Brown followed behind them, doing their best to save the civilians but failing.
The entire time their pursuit was going on the Captain kept trying to contact the rest of his men. He received no answer. After roughly an hour of chasing the machines through the halls, they turned back on the two remaining soldiers.
Young and Brown sprinted as fast as they could away from the metal monstrosities. They came bursting out of the bunker entrance and blocked the door with a piece of concrete that had been blown off the building. As soon as they turned back around from doing so, they heard gunfire and sharp pains shot through their chests.
Brown fell to the ground in an instant, not moving. Young fell to his knees and looked down at his chest. Three large gaping holes were visible and blood was pouring down his protective vest. His knees gave out and he lost consciousness.
The sound of metal scraping against metal woke him soon after, the robots he and Brown had sealed inside has evidently broken out. They marched past him and the dead man beside him into a ship that resembled a shuttle. The door closed behind the last one and the ship took off.
After the sound of the shuttle's engines faded there was only silence. Young looked at the sky and noticed three particularly bright points of light. They seemed to get bigger bigger, closer and closer. Captain Young couldn't help but admit they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen.
There was a bright flash, and a moment of complete, inescapable serenity. Everything was at peace. Then the heat of the three thermonuclear bombs reached the ground, and Captain Leonard Young, veteran British soldier and war hero, ceased to be.
Moments later the Tau'ri settlement on Victoria joined him in nothingness. Less than a minute after the first flash, Victoria was no more.
This may seem kind of random but it will contribute to the story. Again I'd like to thank Hobobillybob for beta reading for me. Review and tell me what you think. Also, Captain Young doesn't have anything to do with Colonel Young from Stargate Universe.