Ch. 2 Planet Aura
(Welcome back, thanks for all the support on the first chapter.)
{Rui's Point Of View}
It's been five days since we've left Sera and I got accustomed to my room quickly. The thought of barricading myself in this room crossed my mind several times. I would like to live on this ship forever due to the nice room and above par food. My only problem is the public showers... that's still such an embarrassing thing! They could have at least made separate stalls! Not to mention one of them had a problem with their translator. I've never had an argument with an automated machine until that day. Needless to say... it was embarrassing. It was made worse when a girl walked over and spoke in the language the translator was stuck on. I never felt so embarrass because she was hot, like a 10 out of 10 hot.
Enough about that, I was currently playing chess against a fellow intern when someone began to speak over the intercom, "All interns report to the Research Lab's meeting room. I repeat, All interns report to the Research Lab's meeting room please. Thank you."
"Hah! That makes this a draw!" The intern I was beating yelled.
I moved my Queen to D7, "You wish. Checkmate bitch." I smirked.
He kicked the table, "Fuck!"
-10 Minutes Later-
All of the interns were present in the Research Lab's meeting room. It was styled after a board room in a big business. Since all of the interns were here, I was able to sum up what they all looked like. There were about 17 guys and 8 girls ranging from 13 to 15 years old. The average height is about 4 foot 9 so most of us were short. The hair color was either blonde, brown or black... pretty boring. Hailey, on the other hand, wasn't boring. Her hair was a bright blue that extended past her hips. I don't know how I've never noticed it but I'm kicking myself now. She looked like she was in her late 30's with lightly tanned skin. She stood at 5 foot 3 with piercing blue eyes that matched her hair. Currently, she had a white lab coat on with black shorts underneath.
"I've called you all here because I wanted to talk to you all about this assignment. How many of you have gone on the computers?" Hailey asked.
Most of us raised our hand but I spoke up, "Is this about the audio logs?"
Hailey spoke the truth, "Yes. The first research team went off the radar 4 hours after arriving on the planet. I won't sugarcoat it, you all might die."
Everyone started murmuring, "So we're sacrifices?"
"I love how the government always has our backs."
"I'm hungry."
Hailey quieted everyone down before speaking, "Quiet down everyone. This time we're sending in 2000 soldiers to secure the area. They'll kill everything and I mean everything. The pokemon are dangerous. It's unclear what they can do but we theorize that they're a race of hyper intelligent psychic pokemon. Do not, under any circumstances, make contact with one. If you do, you're compromised. We'll have no choice but to shoot you down on sight. No questions asked."
"We're just interns. What do they expect us to do?" A female intern asked.
"Simple, help get Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta set up. Look," A hologram of Aura came up in the middle of the room. Four dots were marked on separate Land masses on the planet, "Top left, Alpha, to the right, Bravo. Bottom left, Charlie, across, Delta. Simple. 5 of you will be assigned to each camp with about 500 soldiers. Once the camps are set up, we'll drop in some more reinforcements. That's when Phase 2 starts, expansion. We'll secure and build large scale bases on the surface to ward off pokemon attacks." I interrupted her.
"Um... this sounds more like a plan to invade and populate this planet. I thought this was research driven." I half frowned.
"You can call it what you want but we're doing this due to the planet being a class 2 threat until further notice. Before colonization can be established, all threats must be neutralized. That's what makes our research important. We need to get rid of anything hostile to us. If our camps get overrun, a shuttle will patrol the planet regularly to try and find survivors. If you find a way to get a message off world, send it to signal 385. Once the message is received, the shuttle will report back to HQ and send help. Problem is, it'll take a week for anything to show up. If you can survive that long, then we'll send a ship to the surface in order to save you." Hailey instructed.
"...I almost don't believe you." I whispered.
"You look like you want to say something." Hailey crossed her arms and glared at me.
I sighed and started getting hypothetical, "Okay, let's say we go to the surface and everything falls apart. Do you really think they'll send help for one person?"
"Yes." Hailey replied quickly.
"Liar. They'd sooner eat shit than do that. If someone tried to save us, it'd cost millions of dollars. To make it worse, we're expendable. This entire shuttle plan is a way to build moral by giving us false hope. Sorry but I'm not falling for it." I scoffed.
"Great! You can go down first with Alpha Squad." Hailey smiled.
"..." I stayed silent.
"Anyone else?" Everyone stayed silent, "Good. Now, it's imperative that all of you try to study the land. Take samples of fruit, plant life and try to figure out what makes them special. We don't know much about life on this planet but the reports say the fruits gave its inhabitants their powers. Knowing why will help us in the long run. The one DNA sample we have, showed us that the DNA on this planet has a Triple Helix. Humans and life on Sera have a double Helix DNA structure. If we run more tests, we could prove that the fruits react specifically to Triple Helix DNA sequences." Hailey explained until I raised my hand.
"Isn't that obvious?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Hailey asked back.
"Well, the fruits were obviously grown on the planet. It has a triple helix DNA sequence. So, wouldn't it be obvious that it'll affect the things on that planet and not affect aliens? Just saying, it doesn't take a genius to figure that out." I answered simply.
"Hm. You're right. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, 'cause you're here." Hailey smiled.
"Damn... burned." A nearby intern murmured.
'I hope every single one of you, gets a rusty pipe shoved up your ass.' I thought angrily.
"So, any questions? No? Alright then. After the drop, supplies will land near your position. In it will include tents, food, water, and other supplies. By other supplies, I mean basic microscopes, Radio, cameras, voice recorders, and pencils with paper. Yes, you're interns and our expectations... are extremely low but if one of you, beside him," she points at me, "Shows some promise, you could get promoted. If so, you'll be given a free ticket off this planet."
"I'm starting to feel like this is a prison. If so, I've done nothing wrong." I sighed.
Hailey ignored me, "We're arriving in three hours. Make sure you're ready."
"Water please!" Someone handed me a bottle so I could drink some and spit it out, "Three hours!? I thought we had three days left!"
"Great... now we need to clean the table..." Hailey face palmed before saying, "We made good time, the week was an estimation. Maybe you'll live if you stop complaining, take a chill pill, and just do your job."
"That's easy for you to say! You get to stay up here, cozy and safe while we're down there. We have to sleep on the grass floor!" I complained.
Hailey raised a brow, "Shouldn't you be used to that? Basic made you sleep on the floor regularly. Wouldn't this bring back fond memories?"
My mouth dropped at how stupid that sounded, "No one wants to remember Basic!"
"He's got a point..." Another intern whispered.
"I think this is a good time to end the meeting. Alpha Squad drops in three hours, get ready. Oh, and good luck." Hailey chimed.
I stopped everyone from leaving by saying, "Wait, you never explained how we're going to the planet's surface."
"Shock Pods." She answered simply.
"What exactly ARE shock pods?" I asked.
"Shock Pods are small pods made of metal that can be dropped from orbit, hit land and the person inside won't die. There's a storage compartment behind the seat. To access it, you just need to press a green button along the right side of the pod. Now please, get out." Hailey explained.
"But what-"
"Get out!" Hailey screamed.
-Three Hours Later-
I stood beside four other interns with about 500 troops around me. A man, probably a Sergeant second class, was barking orders at us. Personally, I didn't care what he had to say. We're screwed. The room we were in circled the entire bottom of the shit. The Shock pods lined up on the wall with name's lit up over them. Most were open with some being inspected by engineers. I saw my name and slightly shivered at the fact I'm really being sent to my dead.
"Now, you fucking dickweeds are going to drop in a couple minutes! Most of you have gone through the simulation! Now, for those that haven't, you will drop in, secure the area and wait for supplies. Then, you will set up base camp until further orders are given! Is that clear!?" He asked.
Everyone saluted but I saluted with only my middle finger up, "Sir yes sir!" no one noticed though. Sad...
"Good, now line up!" The Sergeant second class yelled.
I walked over to my pod and stared at it with a sigh, "First drop?" A soldier next to me asked.
"Yeah. I'm nervous. This thing could explode or something." I replied with a nervous smile.
He pat my back, "You'll be fine."
'Yeah... or not...' I thought bitterly.
A female voice rang throughout the area, "We'll be over the drop zone in ten minutes. Everyone, man your pods."
"I'm going to hate this." I whispered as I opened the cargo compartment and put my backpack inside.
When I closed the cargo compartment, I got inside the pod and sat down. The cap started to come down and closed the pod. I heard the clamps lock in as air began to circulate. I looked around the pod to only see barely an inch of space for me to move around. I'd really hate to be that one guy who's claustrophobic.
"5 minutes until drop. Remember, don't panic. If the pod's cap malfunctions, the emergency release buttons are on the top corners and bottom corners of the pod. Air will filter through the pod regularly to avoid suffocation. The first time is always bumpy. Enjoy the ride."
'Did... it just say to enjoy the ride? We're dropping from orbit in a metal box!' I thought angrily.
I looked through the small rectangle visor to see other soldiers going into pods across the room from me. The Engineers inspected my pod before giving me the thumbs up. A seatbelt appeared and binds my body, arms and legs tightly to the seat.
Then I heard the female voice again, "Dropping pod in 3, 2, 1. Bye-bye."
The jump was sudden as I gripped two hand bars near my hands. I watched through the visor as we dropped towards the planet. A couple of stars shone brightly until we entered orbit. The pod started heating up from the force burning up the air but suddenly stopped. The pod released a parachute to slow down the fall. The sky changed from blue to dark gray as Lightning crackled. We must have dropped in the middle of a storm. That's not good. As rain hit the pod, it made it harder to see since it got blurry. From the little I could see, we were landing in the middle of a forest. Several other Shock Pods were already landing with more near them. I tried looking for other pods around me but I couldn't see any. Then, the parachute was dispatched and my pod was in free fall. I gripped the arm bars tightly as the pod fell faster and faster from the gravitational acceleration. Then, my pod hit the ground and almost made me rip from the seatbelt because of the force. I panted hard as I tried to recollect myself. The seatbelts unlocked themselves as the pod's clamps unsealed itself. Then, with a bang, the cap exploded off the pod, allowing the rain in.
"You've gotta be kidding me. My first time on this planet and it had to be raining. Thank god I always wear a Sweater and Sweatpants." I murmured as I pulled my hood up.
I took my first step out of the pod and inspected the area. I couldn't see the other pods so they must have landed already. The pod must have made a loud impact due to the crater in the ground. The forest was a much lighter green than the trees on Sera. Even the bark was a bit green but mostly brown. Fruits were grown on several branches and resembled Pears but... weren't. There was something off about them. I couldn't put my finger on it but I just knew. I then thought of the dangers this world has. If there's anything around, it'll probably come inspect the noise. I better not be here when it does. I quickly got my backpack and started running through the forest. I needed to reach the other pods before I become 'compromised'.
-20 Minutes Later-
After 20 minutes of running, I finally encountered another being. Luckily, he was human but pointed his gun at me. It was a standard issue Assault Rifle. He stood at 6 foot 1 with dark skin, brown eyes and black curly hair. He wore a green camouflage jacket with a green muscle shirt underneath it. His pants were the same color and wore large black boots.
"Whoa! Calm down bro!" I yelled in shock.
"Oh, sorry." He lowered his gun, "Know where the others are?"
"I saw a lot of the pods land that way. I was heading towards it." I replied.
"Alright. Come on then. We need to move before something dangerous comes along." He replied, nudging his head to the left.
I smiled and allowed "Alright, you have the bigger gun, so you take point."
"Alright. Come on." He agreed.
I followed close behind him with my pistol out in case anything goes wrong. While walking, I heard a bush shake and pointed my weapon towards it. I didn't see anything and noticed it move from a gust of wind. The rain started to soak through my sweater and chilled my skin. We needed to find the others or some shelter. Honestly, I'd rather find the others because one soldier is not enough. I want a small army between me and the wildlife here. Then, I heard a snap as the soldier in front of me began to scream. I turned to see a vine wrap around his leg and lift him into the air. He began to shoot wildly, making me hide behind a tree to dodge the incoming fire. He eventually dropped his gun and started panicking from being upside down.
"Calm down!" I ordered.
He took a few deep breaths before replying, "I... sorry about that."
I came out from behind the tree, "Don't worry. I have a knife, you can use it to cut yourself free." I opened my bag and took out said knife, "Here."
He quickly took it, "Thanks."
I stood there waiting as he reached up and cut the vine. When he dropped to the floor, I helped him up and took off the vine. When I did, I noticed something particularly strange. The vine was tied. Someone made this trap.
I decided to bring it up, "That's not good. Someone made this trap."
"What do you mean sir?"
I gave him my reasoning, "I mean this." I showed him the vine, "It's tied perfectly. Not to mention the position. Perfectly camouflaged. I know it's raining but even if it wasn't, you still could have stepped on it."
"You think the others did this?" he asked.
"No. There's no pod nearby and it's far too soon. The others are scattered about. They have to look for each other first." I answered.
"Alright then we really need to pick up the pace."
When we started walking, we eventually found three pods that landed near each other. The soldier was excited at first but I noticed something on the ground. It was blood. Most of it was washed away but some still remained. Not only that but the grass was disturbed as if... something was dragged away... Oh no.
"We need to move, now!" I ordered.
"You don't have to tell me twice but which way?" He asked.
I looked around until I saw some footprints in the mud. When I pointed it out, we started heading that way until we found another soldier. He was hung with several bullets shot through his head. A pistol laid on the ground but not under him. I picked it up and noticed three bullets missing.
"Judging from the position of the gun, whoever killed him stood her to shoot him point blank. Then left the gun here as if it didn't matter. I'm guessing a pokemon did this, not a human." I said aloud.
The soldier started freaking out, "Oh my god... we're fucked man."
"Please, calm down. I know you're scared but so am I." I placed my hand on his shoulder, "We can make it. Trust me."
My words seemed to put him at rest. "Okay sir."
'Yeah right. I'm just bullshitting myself now...' I thought quickly before leading the way.
"How do you know so much?" He asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" I asked back.
"About the blood, footprints, and gunshot stuff." he clarified.
"I took extra classes during basic to have some forensic knowledge incase I needed it." I responded.
"Well, I'm glad it's helping. I don't know what I'd do if I was alone out here."
"Probably make a condo out of sticks and call it a dildo." I joked.
"Pf, whatever man."
"Why are you a soldier?" I asked.
"Too dumb to do anything else." He answered simply.
"Huh. First time you've seen some kind of action?" I asked.
"Yeah... I just want us to get out of this alive."
"Yeah. Me too." I stepped into a clearing and felt my jaw drop.
In the center laid about 100 bodies. All fresh. That's a fifth of the manpower already dead! How did this happen!?
"Wait... who piled the bodies?" The soldier asked.
"I don't know but that's not-" I was cut off by distant gunfire.
"They must be nearby. Come on!" The soldier yelled before running towards the sound.
"Hey! Wait!" I yelled as I ran after him.
The gunfire began to die down until we finally found a group of living humans. They encircled a pokemon that laid on the ground twitching.
"Ala...ka...za-" They all started shooting it with their assault rifle.
After the last bullet of their clip was dropped, they stared at the now dead swiss cheesed Alakazam, "...I think it's dead."
"Did that thing kill all the others?" I asked as we approached them.
"No. We just found it alone. The radio is mostly static but reports of arms fire have come in. It's safe to say about 25% of the army is dead. The meeting point is about 10 Km from here. We might want to start moving now." A female soldier told me.
"Lead the way. You're soldiers, not me." I shrugged.
As we walked, I could sense we were being watched. Whatever it was... I think it was watching me specifically.