The huge colonial transport ship tore through the blackness of space, its engines screaming silently. It carried possibly the most important crew ever assembled for any mission in the history of the people of Earth towards their destination; Endora Prime. The saviours-to-be of mankind. Failure in this mission would mean the last mistake, in a history shaped by mistakes that humans would ever make.
Colonel Gordon Raynor walked briskly along the deck, observing the crew under his command hard at work. The walk served two purposes, to clear his thoughts and check the situation first-hand, and to get the blood flowing around his body. Sitting behind a desk was not a fond activity of the Colonel's. The freshly greased metallic smell of new equipment filled the air, mixed in with the sweat of the crew men and women. A smell the Colonel knew well.
The majority of the equipment on the nameless ship was brand new. The only use it had seen was during testing. This worried the Colonel. Equipment that had never been on a real battlefield was unreliable. It could all just fail to work when needed and that would be a major problem.
A Private snapped a sharp salute as the Colonel walked past her. He stopped and snapped a salute back, just as sharp.
"At ease, Private. Situation report." he asked.
"On schedule, Sir. We're triple checking all equipment, and then checking it again. We've found two ships, both bombers, out of eighty that'll be unusable. They have electrical and mechanical faults. Nine other ships have faults that can be fixed, Sir." she replied.
"We'll have to do without them. Carry on then, Private." the Colonel said and continued on his walk around the deck.
Let's hope that's the only problem we have, he wished silently. As if on cue with his thoughts the large red alarm light above him blared to life, as the ship's warning system was activated. He went immediately to a nearby COM system, it being more secure than his radio, and activated it.
"Report" he ordered into the com.
"Sir, we have a possible Alien on deck 14 room A. Barr was complaining of chest pains, Wilkins reported it and is watching him right now."
"I'm on my way" he replied.
Wilkins stood by the entrance to Barr's room. He was holding his sidearm, a powerful high calibre pistol by his side, ready to use it if required.
"Hey, help's on the way" Wilkins said to Barr, who was lying on his bunk clutching his chest in obvious pain.
"It...burns" Barr managed to say through gritted teeth.
"Ah shit! You were from the hot planet right? One of the ones we rescued on our way?" Wilkins said in shock realisation.
This time Barr didn't respond. His chest did, followed by a blood curdling scream. His standard issue camouflage shirt rose as something underneath struggled to emerge. Wilkins hesitantly raised his pistol, a grim expression on his face. The shirt ripped apart followed by a fountain of Barr's blood which landed on and around bar, covering his face in blood.
Tiny teeth tore through the bits and pieces of Barr's chest and shirt. The Alien began to shriek but was cut short by the direct impact of a large bullet digging into its skull, through it, and out the other side, sending its forming brain formlessly onto Barr, the previously white bed sheets and the grey metallic wall behind it.
The sound of the gunshot echoed throughout the corridors around the room, as others ran towards it.
Wilkins let out a slight sigh, his muscles tightened with tension at what he had just witnessed, and lowered the still smoking pistol. Barr sputtered blood out of his mouth and breathed in sharp taught breaths. He was still alive. Wilkins jumped at the sudden sound, having thought that Barr was already dead. He moved quickly to his side to check on him. Two other soldiers entered the room.
"He's still alive?" one of them asked.
"Yeah" Wilkins replied, now in a hypnotic like state.
This was the first time he'd seen an Alien rip through a human's chest. He'd heard the many stories about how these chest busters did just that, but seeing it actually happen was a completely different experience. The fact that Barr was still alive and missing half his chest was another factor in Wilkins state.
"Damn, it musta missed his heart on the way out" the other soldier observed, looking into the mess that was a mixture of the remnants of the Alien and Barrs' chest.
The Alien seemed to have burst from the right side, leaving his left lung and heart mostly intact. Usually the chest busters came through the middle or more to the left ensuring the destruction of the victims' heart. How these things burst from other creatures was unknown. This was why he had survived such a horrific ordeal and was still alive, just barely.
"What do we do now?" the first soldier asked.
"Wait for the medic" the other replied.
Wilkins began talking reassuringly to Barr. They hadn't known each other before now. Barr was from a colony that was being overrun when the ship stopped there and rescued anyone they could, on their way to Endora Prime. Now Wilkins was doing whatever he could to keep Barr alive. He held Barr's hand, which responded weakly and was growing colder. Wilkins could feel the life fading away helplessly.
Barr continued to gasp sharply for air. The intake of air was followed by the coughing and gurgling of blood in his throat. Blood was flowing heavily into his throat, blocking his windpipe. Wilkins noticed this and tilted Barrs' head sideways, resulting in a rush of blood flowing out of Barrs mouth and onto the bed and floor. Barr breathed easier now, his damaged heart working overtime trying vainly to send blood through broken arteries.
Wilkins began to gag at the sight and smell before him and forced himself to stop.
"Medic here, clear the way!" the medic shouted as he walked into the room.
The two soldiers left the room and Wilkins stayed where he was.
"You too" the medic ordered Wilkins.
The stone cold stare he returned to the medic told him he wasn't going anywhere. He decided to leave him and get on with his job. He immediately took notice of the Barr's situation and began picking out the remnants of the Alien out of the chest cavity with a gloved hand and throwing them hastily onto the floor. Another medic arrived who quickly began closing up the main arteries that were causing massive blood loss. A task made harder by the blood itself covering just about everything that was left inside his chest. This time Wilkins moved to the side but did not let go of Barr's hand.
The two other soldiers took a careful look at the remains of the chest burster to ensure it didn't move or twitch. Satisfied it was dead they then moved out of the way as the Colonel entered the room.
The colonel said nothing as he surveyed the situation. The medics worked fast and professionally as they tried their best to save the crewman. The life of each and every member of the crew was important to the Colonel. Not because he personally cared for each and every member of his crew, but because they each served a purpose as important as his own.
As a colonel he made sure not to become attached to anybody on the crew. Such an attachment could potentially jeopardise a mission, especially when one of those he may have cared for was injured or killed during it. Impartiality was a requirement.
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"Do you think this is God's punishment?" Smith asked, taking a break from the rifle's scope.
"What?" Hurst replied, surprised at the question.
Hurst was sitting on the bunk and had been attempting, badly, to complete a cryptographic puzzle. He could never get the hang of these damn puzzles, but tried nonetheless. He put the book and pencil down and looked directly at Smith, who was lying on his back now and looking back at him.
"The Aliens. You think this is some sort of punishment?" Smith repeated.
"Well if you believe in God don't you usually believe in Heaven and Hell? If so then why would God punish us in this life?" Hurst answered.
"Well, maybe God got decided we needed to be punished in this life too" Smith countered.
"Maybe. For all we know about the Aliens they could have been made by us in the first place. We've colonised so many planets who knows what kind of experiments and research is going on out there. It was secretive enough when we only lived on Earth. Now....who knows?" Hurst said.
After a moment of silent thought Hurst continued, "Besides, God doesn't need to punish us in this life. We punish ourselves enough already. Look at life before we 'discovered' the Aliens. What were we doing. Killing each other, that's what. Money and power is all most people seem to care about, even now. Controlling the masses for their own good, not for the good of the people. If anything humans are the only species to have earned the right to their extinction. We deserve to be extinct and eventually we will be the cause of our own demise. Serves us right for being the most intelligent yet the most stupid species in existence."
Smith was surprised at this emotional reply from Hurst. He realised that he must've set of some memories and thoughts Hurst had so far kept to himself during his time here at the base.
Smith thought through Hurst's reply spoke again, "Why do you fight for our survival then?" he asked sincerely.
"Don't expect me to say I fight because there is some good in humanity. That's not why I fight. I fight because Earth was our home first. We may not belong on other planets but we belong on Earth. I will not standby and let our home be taken by a species more ruthless than our own. I will not allow my family to be killed by these Aliens. We may deserve our own destruction but these Aliens deserve it more. I'd rather leave humanity to decide whether to end itself or sort itself out, not have it decided for us." Hurst spoke powerfully.
Another moment of silence passed as Smith processed what his friend had just told him.
"I fight for my family too but I also believe that there is good in the human race. Good worth saving, worth fighting for." Smith replied.
Hurst snorted lightly, an answer he'd heard many soldiers who had not seen actual combat yet give. Hurst hadn't been involved in any real ground combat with the Aliens so far, but he had been in many wars with 'fellow' humans. Wars fought for many different reasons and many different people, usually smartly dressed men in suits who would never hold a gun in their entire life, let alone join their own fight.
Hurst had fought on various planets, in zero-g and diverse environments, including his first combat on Earth. The horrors of what the human race were capable became clear to him over the years of constant fighting. He had seen many things, even things he had done that he'd rather not have if given the choice to go back. Things he'd rather forget.
He had often wondered if it was possible to have unwanted memories erased. He soon learned the value of even horrific memories in future combat, and surviving both on and off the battlefield. These memories and experiences had taught him many important lessons in life. Lessons he felt was time he passed on to somebody else. Smith was the right person. Such memory erasing technology did not exist.
To Hurst, Smith was fortunate. No experience of man vs. man combat. Aliens were a different issue. They weren't the same species. All that was known was that they were ruthless in their quest for dominance. Taking over each human controlled planet one at a time. Their only purpose seemed to be the destruction of others and the reproduction of more of themselves. Did they have real intelligence on par with humans, no one could answer that with an absolute answer. Even so, some humans seemed to be just as ruthless as the Aliens.
Smith still had an innocence that Hurst, and most others, had lost a long time ago. Hurst hoped that Smith would keep this innocence for his entire life, something that was highly unlikely if they survived and got off this planet.
"Just remember, don't expect a hero to come riding in on a white horse to make everything better. The only person you can really trust and count on is yourself, now and always. Remember that, it could save your life in the future. It saved mine countless times, and I learnt about it the hard way." Hurst advised.
Smith made direct eye contact with Hurst and nodded in complete understanding. He then turned back to the rifle, checked the magazine and put his eye back to the scope. Hurst's words still playing in his thoughts. He could only imagine what could have happened to Hurst to distrust his own kind so deeply.
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The Colonel looked at the myriad of wires, monitors and other equipment surrounding Barr. He was now in the ships infirmary, holding on to his life.
"How is he?" the Colonel asked the doctor next to him.
"He's holding on. We've stopped all major bleeding. We're going to perform surgery on his heart, lung and arteries to rebuild what we can. For now, he's surviving. We've got another problem though," the doctor replied, waiting for the Colonel's acknowledgement.
"What problem?"
"We have to screen each and every crew member. We have over forty from the same planet as him, and anyone else could also be affected" the doctor replied gloomily.
"Do it" the Colonel replied and with that he left the infirmary.
So much for hoping that was the only problem, he thought to himself, as he walked towards the ships bridge.
Colonel Gordon Raynor walked briskly along the deck, observing the crew under his command hard at work. The walk served two purposes, to clear his thoughts and check the situation first-hand, and to get the blood flowing around his body. Sitting behind a desk was not a fond activity of the Colonel's. The freshly greased metallic smell of new equipment filled the air, mixed in with the sweat of the crew men and women. A smell the Colonel knew well.
The majority of the equipment on the nameless ship was brand new. The only use it had seen was during testing. This worried the Colonel. Equipment that had never been on a real battlefield was unreliable. It could all just fail to work when needed and that would be a major problem.
A Private snapped a sharp salute as the Colonel walked past her. He stopped and snapped a salute back, just as sharp.
"At ease, Private. Situation report." he asked.
"On schedule, Sir. We're triple checking all equipment, and then checking it again. We've found two ships, both bombers, out of eighty that'll be unusable. They have electrical and mechanical faults. Nine other ships have faults that can be fixed, Sir." she replied.
"We'll have to do without them. Carry on then, Private." the Colonel said and continued on his walk around the deck.
Let's hope that's the only problem we have, he wished silently. As if on cue with his thoughts the large red alarm light above him blared to life, as the ship's warning system was activated. He went immediately to a nearby COM system, it being more secure than his radio, and activated it.
"Report" he ordered into the com.
"Sir, we have a possible Alien on deck 14 room A. Barr was complaining of chest pains, Wilkins reported it and is watching him right now."
"I'm on my way" he replied.
Wilkins stood by the entrance to Barr's room. He was holding his sidearm, a powerful high calibre pistol by his side, ready to use it if required.
"Hey, help's on the way" Wilkins said to Barr, who was lying on his bunk clutching his chest in obvious pain.
"It...burns" Barr managed to say through gritted teeth.
"Ah shit! You were from the hot planet right? One of the ones we rescued on our way?" Wilkins said in shock realisation.
This time Barr didn't respond. His chest did, followed by a blood curdling scream. His standard issue camouflage shirt rose as something underneath struggled to emerge. Wilkins hesitantly raised his pistol, a grim expression on his face. The shirt ripped apart followed by a fountain of Barr's blood which landed on and around bar, covering his face in blood.
Tiny teeth tore through the bits and pieces of Barr's chest and shirt. The Alien began to shriek but was cut short by the direct impact of a large bullet digging into its skull, through it, and out the other side, sending its forming brain formlessly onto Barr, the previously white bed sheets and the grey metallic wall behind it.
The sound of the gunshot echoed throughout the corridors around the room, as others ran towards it.
Wilkins let out a slight sigh, his muscles tightened with tension at what he had just witnessed, and lowered the still smoking pistol. Barr sputtered blood out of his mouth and breathed in sharp taught breaths. He was still alive. Wilkins jumped at the sudden sound, having thought that Barr was already dead. He moved quickly to his side to check on him. Two other soldiers entered the room.
"He's still alive?" one of them asked.
"Yeah" Wilkins replied, now in a hypnotic like state.
This was the first time he'd seen an Alien rip through a human's chest. He'd heard the many stories about how these chest busters did just that, but seeing it actually happen was a completely different experience. The fact that Barr was still alive and missing half his chest was another factor in Wilkins state.
"Damn, it musta missed his heart on the way out" the other soldier observed, looking into the mess that was a mixture of the remnants of the Alien and Barrs' chest.
The Alien seemed to have burst from the right side, leaving his left lung and heart mostly intact. Usually the chest busters came through the middle or more to the left ensuring the destruction of the victims' heart. How these things burst from other creatures was unknown. This was why he had survived such a horrific ordeal and was still alive, just barely.
"What do we do now?" the first soldier asked.
"Wait for the medic" the other replied.
Wilkins began talking reassuringly to Barr. They hadn't known each other before now. Barr was from a colony that was being overrun when the ship stopped there and rescued anyone they could, on their way to Endora Prime. Now Wilkins was doing whatever he could to keep Barr alive. He held Barr's hand, which responded weakly and was growing colder. Wilkins could feel the life fading away helplessly.
Barr continued to gasp sharply for air. The intake of air was followed by the coughing and gurgling of blood in his throat. Blood was flowing heavily into his throat, blocking his windpipe. Wilkins noticed this and tilted Barrs' head sideways, resulting in a rush of blood flowing out of Barrs mouth and onto the bed and floor. Barr breathed easier now, his damaged heart working overtime trying vainly to send blood through broken arteries.
Wilkins began to gag at the sight and smell before him and forced himself to stop.
"Medic here, clear the way!" the medic shouted as he walked into the room.
The two soldiers left the room and Wilkins stayed where he was.
"You too" the medic ordered Wilkins.
The stone cold stare he returned to the medic told him he wasn't going anywhere. He decided to leave him and get on with his job. He immediately took notice of the Barr's situation and began picking out the remnants of the Alien out of the chest cavity with a gloved hand and throwing them hastily onto the floor. Another medic arrived who quickly began closing up the main arteries that were causing massive blood loss. A task made harder by the blood itself covering just about everything that was left inside his chest. This time Wilkins moved to the side but did not let go of Barr's hand.
The two other soldiers took a careful look at the remains of the chest burster to ensure it didn't move or twitch. Satisfied it was dead they then moved out of the way as the Colonel entered the room.
The colonel said nothing as he surveyed the situation. The medics worked fast and professionally as they tried their best to save the crewman. The life of each and every member of the crew was important to the Colonel. Not because he personally cared for each and every member of his crew, but because they each served a purpose as important as his own.
As a colonel he made sure not to become attached to anybody on the crew. Such an attachment could potentially jeopardise a mission, especially when one of those he may have cared for was injured or killed during it. Impartiality was a requirement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Do you think this is God's punishment?" Smith asked, taking a break from the rifle's scope.
"What?" Hurst replied, surprised at the question.
Hurst was sitting on the bunk and had been attempting, badly, to complete a cryptographic puzzle. He could never get the hang of these damn puzzles, but tried nonetheless. He put the book and pencil down and looked directly at Smith, who was lying on his back now and looking back at him.
"The Aliens. You think this is some sort of punishment?" Smith repeated.
"Well if you believe in God don't you usually believe in Heaven and Hell? If so then why would God punish us in this life?" Hurst answered.
"Well, maybe God got decided we needed to be punished in this life too" Smith countered.
"Maybe. For all we know about the Aliens they could have been made by us in the first place. We've colonised so many planets who knows what kind of experiments and research is going on out there. It was secretive enough when we only lived on Earth. Now....who knows?" Hurst said.
After a moment of silent thought Hurst continued, "Besides, God doesn't need to punish us in this life. We punish ourselves enough already. Look at life before we 'discovered' the Aliens. What were we doing. Killing each other, that's what. Money and power is all most people seem to care about, even now. Controlling the masses for their own good, not for the good of the people. If anything humans are the only species to have earned the right to their extinction. We deserve to be extinct and eventually we will be the cause of our own demise. Serves us right for being the most intelligent yet the most stupid species in existence."
Smith was surprised at this emotional reply from Hurst. He realised that he must've set of some memories and thoughts Hurst had so far kept to himself during his time here at the base.
Smith thought through Hurst's reply spoke again, "Why do you fight for our survival then?" he asked sincerely.
"Don't expect me to say I fight because there is some good in humanity. That's not why I fight. I fight because Earth was our home first. We may not belong on other planets but we belong on Earth. I will not standby and let our home be taken by a species more ruthless than our own. I will not allow my family to be killed by these Aliens. We may deserve our own destruction but these Aliens deserve it more. I'd rather leave humanity to decide whether to end itself or sort itself out, not have it decided for us." Hurst spoke powerfully.
Another moment of silence passed as Smith processed what his friend had just told him.
"I fight for my family too but I also believe that there is good in the human race. Good worth saving, worth fighting for." Smith replied.
Hurst snorted lightly, an answer he'd heard many soldiers who had not seen actual combat yet give. Hurst hadn't been involved in any real ground combat with the Aliens so far, but he had been in many wars with 'fellow' humans. Wars fought for many different reasons and many different people, usually smartly dressed men in suits who would never hold a gun in their entire life, let alone join their own fight.
Hurst had fought on various planets, in zero-g and diverse environments, including his first combat on Earth. The horrors of what the human race were capable became clear to him over the years of constant fighting. He had seen many things, even things he had done that he'd rather not have if given the choice to go back. Things he'd rather forget.
He had often wondered if it was possible to have unwanted memories erased. He soon learned the value of even horrific memories in future combat, and surviving both on and off the battlefield. These memories and experiences had taught him many important lessons in life. Lessons he felt was time he passed on to somebody else. Smith was the right person. Such memory erasing technology did not exist.
To Hurst, Smith was fortunate. No experience of man vs. man combat. Aliens were a different issue. They weren't the same species. All that was known was that they were ruthless in their quest for dominance. Taking over each human controlled planet one at a time. Their only purpose seemed to be the destruction of others and the reproduction of more of themselves. Did they have real intelligence on par with humans, no one could answer that with an absolute answer. Even so, some humans seemed to be just as ruthless as the Aliens.
Smith still had an innocence that Hurst, and most others, had lost a long time ago. Hurst hoped that Smith would keep this innocence for his entire life, something that was highly unlikely if they survived and got off this planet.
"Just remember, don't expect a hero to come riding in on a white horse to make everything better. The only person you can really trust and count on is yourself, now and always. Remember that, it could save your life in the future. It saved mine countless times, and I learnt about it the hard way." Hurst advised.
Smith made direct eye contact with Hurst and nodded in complete understanding. He then turned back to the rifle, checked the magazine and put his eye back to the scope. Hurst's words still playing in his thoughts. He could only imagine what could have happened to Hurst to distrust his own kind so deeply.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Colonel looked at the myriad of wires, monitors and other equipment surrounding Barr. He was now in the ships infirmary, holding on to his life.
"How is he?" the Colonel asked the doctor next to him.
"He's holding on. We've stopped all major bleeding. We're going to perform surgery on his heart, lung and arteries to rebuild what we can. For now, he's surviving. We've got another problem though," the doctor replied, waiting for the Colonel's acknowledgement.
"What problem?"
"We have to screen each and every crew member. We have over forty from the same planet as him, and anyone else could also be affected" the doctor replied gloomily.
"Do it" the Colonel replied and with that he left the infirmary.
So much for hoping that was the only problem, he thought to himself, as he walked towards the ships bridge.