Keitaro the fourth member of Finleys team took point. He was Japanese and originally from Japan on Earth. He too was a 'freshman'. One thing that made people notice him was the fact that he carried a samurai sword on his back at all times.
For luck he told people. He indeed had been lucky when it deflected a bullet that would have been fatal during a live fire training mission back on Earth.
Crouching, he crept up to the door and pushed it open slightly.
"Night vis on" Finley ordered seeing the darkness ahead, as he placed the goggles over his eyes, the world once again turning to green.
The sword glistened reflecting the undamaged corridor lights just before Keitaro entered the storage room, swiftly followed by Finley and Shen. Dena covered their six as she too followed them in.
All they could see through their night vision were stacks and stacks of supply crates, mostly empty as the supplies were used up over the years. There had been no re-supply missions for a good few months. Fortunately there had been enough to last until the rescue.
Keitaro went up ahead of the rest of the team leading them through a systematic search of the room. He noticed an unnatural blur in his night vision at the end of a stack of crates. He held up his hand silently signalling that he had seen something up ahead.
Dena tensed up, clutching her shotgun tightly.
Keitaro looked around, thinking maybe it was a smear on his goggles, but the blur did not move with his movements. Rifle held ready he moved slowly towards it, Finley and Shen covering.
Before any of them had time to react the blur shot forward towards Keitaro and he was hit in the chest by an arm he couldn't see. The force of the impact sent him flying several feet into the air and straight into Finley, knocking him over, as Keitaro lost grip of his rifle and his consciousness. The sword digging into his back as he landed hard on the cold concrete floor, the rifle sliding to a stop a dozen feet away.
Shen opened up on the blur in his vision, Dena joining in as Finley scrambled back up for his rifle. The blur was still too fast, reaching Shen and knocking his weapon out of his hand.
Finley looked up just in time to see Shens rifle come flying towards his face, but it was too late to react. The rifle hit him in the centre of his face stunning him as the force of the impact knocked him to the ground. He felt warm blood flowing into his mouth.
Denas shotgun blasts echoed loudly throughout the storage room almost drowning out the unearthly roar of whatever was on the receiving end of the shotgun shells. The explosive rounds knocked the blur back keeping it away from Shen who was panicking while trying to get hold of his pistol. Her last round revealed, to their disbelief, what it was they couldn't see a second ago.
A massive creature easily nine feet tall. Dena stopped firing, momentarily awed, as the huge creature fell backwards. The creature was covered in the green blood Shen had noticed earlier.
Shen stopped trying to remove his pistol from his belt and instead looked at the creature. Finley, disoriented, shook his head to clear it and looked in the direction of the fallen creature. He pointed his rifle at the creature as he slowly got up. Shen quickly recovered his rifle and held it towards the creature.
"Dena, check Keitaro." Finley ordered.
She'd finished reloading her shotgun with explosive rounds and went to Keitaro, who wasn't moving. She checked his pulse, which was steady, as Finley and Shen did their best to see if the creature was dead or not.
The creatures chest wasn't rising or falling indicating it wasn't breathing, and the holes ripped in its body by the shotgun blasts were a good indication. It was humanoid so Finley thought it would be a safe guess that this creature breathed like humans. They couldn't see its face though, as it was covered by some sort of mask made of metal.
"What do you think?" Shen asked
"Looks dead, Denas shotgun took big chunks outta this thing. We'll have to keep watch from a safe distance. The thing is fast" replied Finley, "How's Keitaro?" he asked Dena whilst still watching the creature.
"Vitals are good. He's still unconscious. May have a broken spine, we can't move him. We need a medic"
"Alright, Shen radio Adams let him know our situation and get a medic here"
"Yes sir" Shen replied as he reached for the radio, one hand still holding the rifle towards the creature.
"Understood" Adams said after Shen had reported the situation in. A medic had been part of the now completed sweep and he was sent along with a team of four to help Finleys team.
"The sweep turned up nothing that means there's still one of these things out there and it's not in this building" Adams informed Finleys team over the radio.
Raul informed the whole base of the current situation. Each team of soldiers, some in towers and some on civilian guard would have to report in every fifteen minutes. With the number of soldiers on the base fifteen minutes would be just enough to handle them all reporting in one after the other in a specific order.
Adams looked over to Halden, who now just sat there staring blankly at nothing in particular.
"Hey, need anything?" Adams asked him.
Halden turned towards Adams, still with a blank expression, "No" was all he said.
Raul sat back in his chair, it was almost time for his scheduled rest period. The two other communicators could take over for a while. Besides it would give the others something to do than just standing around, he thought.
-------------------------------------------------
The world had become strange. The lights and ceiling were now the floor. The tables, chairs and the people sitting in them were on the ceiling, upside down.
"Look mum, I can do a handstand" Caley told his mum proudly.
"Wow that's great! How did you learn to do that?" his mum, Patia, asked.
"Zara taught me" he replied, as he lost his balance and landed back on his feet.
"That's great. We'll have to show your dad sometime" she replied.
The majority of civilians were here, at evac point Gus 1, awaiting the rescue. Evacuation point Gus 1 consisted of one large civilian building. The only building of its kind in the base.
Originally the soldiers who were to be stationed at this base had been given the choice to bring their families with them. Most of the soldiers had happily brought their families here. Once those families from Earth and a few outlying colonies were brought here they knew that they would not be able to go back home ever again.
Neither the Company nor the governments of Earth and the colonies were going to risk these people letting out such a secret. A secret that had been astonishingly kept so well for so long. Earth and the few outer colonies that were free of Aliens at the moment were, for the most part, none the wiser.
Patia was Smiths wife. She was an average height, beautiful woman with a smile that could light up a room. Smith had used that line when they first met, back on Earth. She'd told him how cliched that sounded as many men had told her that before, but they did get together realising how much they liked each other.
She had had to leave everything behind. Her family, friends, and a big part of her life. She had chosen to go because they had been so great together, the three of them. As much as she loved her family and knew she would not see them ever again her own family was too important to her and her son to let it be taken apart.
Now she sat in a chair in the mess hall watching the reason she was here doing handstands, as happy as she had ever seen him be. She found it funny that it was actually safer in this base, surrounded by Aliens, then it was back home on Earth. There was no chance of being run over, robbed or any of the other myriad of crimes that were slowly destroying society bit by bit back at home.
It was time for lunch and most of the civilians on the base were here in the mess hall eating and chatting to each other. Everyone was trying their best to keep their spirits up. With the news of a death and now a creature that was invisible somewhere in the base people were worried.
The children however played happily, with all innocence, under the ever watchful eyes of the soldiers. Additional soldiers were stationed here now, looking for any signs of that shimmer described by those that had seen it in the communications building.
Some of the civilians were in their rooms, reading, sleeping or trying to relax in the current situation.
One civilian in particular was busy thinking, making a plan. A plan that the voices were telling him to make.
For luck he told people. He indeed had been lucky when it deflected a bullet that would have been fatal during a live fire training mission back on Earth.
Crouching, he crept up to the door and pushed it open slightly.
"Night vis on" Finley ordered seeing the darkness ahead, as he placed the goggles over his eyes, the world once again turning to green.
The sword glistened reflecting the undamaged corridor lights just before Keitaro entered the storage room, swiftly followed by Finley and Shen. Dena covered their six as she too followed them in.
All they could see through their night vision were stacks and stacks of supply crates, mostly empty as the supplies were used up over the years. There had been no re-supply missions for a good few months. Fortunately there had been enough to last until the rescue.
Keitaro went up ahead of the rest of the team leading them through a systematic search of the room. He noticed an unnatural blur in his night vision at the end of a stack of crates. He held up his hand silently signalling that he had seen something up ahead.
Dena tensed up, clutching her shotgun tightly.
Keitaro looked around, thinking maybe it was a smear on his goggles, but the blur did not move with his movements. Rifle held ready he moved slowly towards it, Finley and Shen covering.
Before any of them had time to react the blur shot forward towards Keitaro and he was hit in the chest by an arm he couldn't see. The force of the impact sent him flying several feet into the air and straight into Finley, knocking him over, as Keitaro lost grip of his rifle and his consciousness. The sword digging into his back as he landed hard on the cold concrete floor, the rifle sliding to a stop a dozen feet away.
Shen opened up on the blur in his vision, Dena joining in as Finley scrambled back up for his rifle. The blur was still too fast, reaching Shen and knocking his weapon out of his hand.
Finley looked up just in time to see Shens rifle come flying towards his face, but it was too late to react. The rifle hit him in the centre of his face stunning him as the force of the impact knocked him to the ground. He felt warm blood flowing into his mouth.
Denas shotgun blasts echoed loudly throughout the storage room almost drowning out the unearthly roar of whatever was on the receiving end of the shotgun shells. The explosive rounds knocked the blur back keeping it away from Shen who was panicking while trying to get hold of his pistol. Her last round revealed, to their disbelief, what it was they couldn't see a second ago.
A massive creature easily nine feet tall. Dena stopped firing, momentarily awed, as the huge creature fell backwards. The creature was covered in the green blood Shen had noticed earlier.
Shen stopped trying to remove his pistol from his belt and instead looked at the creature. Finley, disoriented, shook his head to clear it and looked in the direction of the fallen creature. He pointed his rifle at the creature as he slowly got up. Shen quickly recovered his rifle and held it towards the creature.
"Dena, check Keitaro." Finley ordered.
She'd finished reloading her shotgun with explosive rounds and went to Keitaro, who wasn't moving. She checked his pulse, which was steady, as Finley and Shen did their best to see if the creature was dead or not.
The creatures chest wasn't rising or falling indicating it wasn't breathing, and the holes ripped in its body by the shotgun blasts were a good indication. It was humanoid so Finley thought it would be a safe guess that this creature breathed like humans. They couldn't see its face though, as it was covered by some sort of mask made of metal.
"What do you think?" Shen asked
"Looks dead, Denas shotgun took big chunks outta this thing. We'll have to keep watch from a safe distance. The thing is fast" replied Finley, "How's Keitaro?" he asked Dena whilst still watching the creature.
"Vitals are good. He's still unconscious. May have a broken spine, we can't move him. We need a medic"
"Alright, Shen radio Adams let him know our situation and get a medic here"
"Yes sir" Shen replied as he reached for the radio, one hand still holding the rifle towards the creature.
"Understood" Adams said after Shen had reported the situation in. A medic had been part of the now completed sweep and he was sent along with a team of four to help Finleys team.
"The sweep turned up nothing that means there's still one of these things out there and it's not in this building" Adams informed Finleys team over the radio.
Raul informed the whole base of the current situation. Each team of soldiers, some in towers and some on civilian guard would have to report in every fifteen minutes. With the number of soldiers on the base fifteen minutes would be just enough to handle them all reporting in one after the other in a specific order.
Adams looked over to Halden, who now just sat there staring blankly at nothing in particular.
"Hey, need anything?" Adams asked him.
Halden turned towards Adams, still with a blank expression, "No" was all he said.
Raul sat back in his chair, it was almost time for his scheduled rest period. The two other communicators could take over for a while. Besides it would give the others something to do than just standing around, he thought.
-------------------------------------------------
The world had become strange. The lights and ceiling were now the floor. The tables, chairs and the people sitting in them were on the ceiling, upside down.
"Look mum, I can do a handstand" Caley told his mum proudly.
"Wow that's great! How did you learn to do that?" his mum, Patia, asked.
"Zara taught me" he replied, as he lost his balance and landed back on his feet.
"That's great. We'll have to show your dad sometime" she replied.
The majority of civilians were here, at evac point Gus 1, awaiting the rescue. Evacuation point Gus 1 consisted of one large civilian building. The only building of its kind in the base.
Originally the soldiers who were to be stationed at this base had been given the choice to bring their families with them. Most of the soldiers had happily brought their families here. Once those families from Earth and a few outlying colonies were brought here they knew that they would not be able to go back home ever again.
Neither the Company nor the governments of Earth and the colonies were going to risk these people letting out such a secret. A secret that had been astonishingly kept so well for so long. Earth and the few outer colonies that were free of Aliens at the moment were, for the most part, none the wiser.
Patia was Smiths wife. She was an average height, beautiful woman with a smile that could light up a room. Smith had used that line when they first met, back on Earth. She'd told him how cliched that sounded as many men had told her that before, but they did get together realising how much they liked each other.
She had had to leave everything behind. Her family, friends, and a big part of her life. She had chosen to go because they had been so great together, the three of them. As much as she loved her family and knew she would not see them ever again her own family was too important to her and her son to let it be taken apart.
Now she sat in a chair in the mess hall watching the reason she was here doing handstands, as happy as she had ever seen him be. She found it funny that it was actually safer in this base, surrounded by Aliens, then it was back home on Earth. There was no chance of being run over, robbed or any of the other myriad of crimes that were slowly destroying society bit by bit back at home.
It was time for lunch and most of the civilians on the base were here in the mess hall eating and chatting to each other. Everyone was trying their best to keep their spirits up. With the news of a death and now a creature that was invisible somewhere in the base people were worried.
The children however played happily, with all innocence, under the ever watchful eyes of the soldiers. Additional soldiers were stationed here now, looking for any signs of that shimmer described by those that had seen it in the communications building.
Some of the civilians were in their rooms, reading, sleeping or trying to relax in the current situation.
One civilian in particular was busy thinking, making a plan. A plan that the voices were telling him to make.