Trapped Part 1
#1 of Trapped
CHAPTER 1: Hostage
Message from com-pad 4209:
Star date: May 11, 2287
Galaxy: Delta Orion
Planet: B-612
Begin transmission...
We have landed on the planet and are searching for life. There is what appears to be a city, but it is in ruins. Chances of life: 6%. We will investigate but until further notice stay in orbit until we can determine if there is life at all, and if they are hostile. Over and out.
End transmission.
"Hey Brian?"
"Yea?"
"Do you ever think back to how we got in this mess?"
"You ask me that question now?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Because we are being held hostage by furry little animals."
"Hey!"
"What?"
"We take offence to that!"
"To what?"
"We are NOT little."
"I think your bigger than us."
"Shut up Nathan! Now isn't the time to suck up."
"You got us into this!"
"No YOU did!"
Let me clarify this,
it was indeed Nathan who made this happen. Nathan killed Dean, who had killed Nathan's father, so you can't entirely blame Nathan for killing Dean. But in turn, Brian killed 5 different people (animals?) along the way, so Brian did have a very big part in this kidnapping.
Oh yeah, they both "did" Angela and Casey, and they think they are cheating on the girls, while
the girls think they are cheating on the boys, but more on that love "square" later.
Where was I?
Anyhow, as you can obviously see, this story is written in reverse, so the only reason to read the other chapters is to see how these people are connected, why they are killing each other, and how I know all this.
But more on me later.
What is important is the story, so let me start from the beginning.
CHAPTER 2: Briefing
Private Williams stands near a control section typing on his computer while the navigators are busy directing the CHIVALRY near a currently unidentified planet. Captain Leon Skinner stepped onto the deck with force to command the focus of his platoon.
"Captain on deck!"
"What do we have here soldier?"
"It seems to be an unclassified planet sir, shall we begin Baird protocol?"
"Ah, Colonel Martin P. Baird, one of the military finest. Expanded the human race's reach to distant
planets."
"Shall we begin protocol sir?"
"Yes, check the planet for life, atmosphere and resources."
"With all due respect sir, I do know protocol."
"Very well, but I can feel something with this planet. I will be going down with the search team."
"But sir, it is strictly against protocol to send down anyone with a rank above sergeant first class."
"It is also against protocol to kill a private, but that won't stop me from doing both."
"Yes sir, you will be going along with sergeant Kyle O. Brian, corporal Even D. Nathan and 20 privates."
"Good. When do we launch?"
"In 30 minutes."
Nathan returns from the gym with a towel around his neck and enters his bunk room where sergeant Brian is packing a metal briefcase with assorted clothes, weapons and gear. Nathan attempts to whip Brian, but Brian jumps out of the way and promptly returns to packing.
"Aye, Brian. What are you doing?"
"Preparing for the trip down to the planet. Why aren't you packing?"
"Because I don't wear clothes."
"So? You still need weapons and an Eco-suit in case the planet has no oxygen."
"I know this planet has oxygen on it."
"How?"
"I was born on this planet, raised on this planet and my father was murdered on this planet. I KNOW it
has oxygen"
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"You know the army, it's all don't ask, don't tell, if I told anyone, I mean ANY-one, they would disband
me for lying, or disobeying protocol by not ordering a Baird protocol on this planet."
"Then why did you just tell me?"
"Because I trust you."
"Why?"
"You are my friend. You never alienated me. You treated me like everyone else. You know I'm
different, but it never came between us."
"Your different? I haven't noticed. Except of the the ears, the fur, the tail and you didn't speak any
known language when you came to earth."
"Stop being silly, ready or not we're still launching in 5 minutes."
"Oh crap, the docking station is 10 minutes away! We'll never make it!"
"We can make it if we run."
Sergeant Kyle O. Brian was a tall man about 6.5 feet high, at 24 years of age. He had jet black hair and green eyes, very unusual for a human being. He was very pale and dedicated to his work in the army, even when he didn't show it. Corporal Even D. Nathan was the only soldier in the army taller than 7 feet and the only recorded member of his species which have been dubbed "Centan". The closest thing to a centan would be a tiger and a human combined, the upright position and body of a human (both covered in orange fur) and the face, arms and legs of a tiger. With no record of birth, the most accurate guess to his age would be between 18-19 years of age. Covered in orange fur and having blue eyes Nathan is very fast and athletic, but not as skilled in combat as Brian. Nathan is a skilled leader, but never was good at following orders due to discrimination from being a different race. Both were incredibly skilled in combat and commanding, but neither went on any mission without the other.
Back to the story.
CHAPTER 3: Launch
The pilot is loading a bunch of metal briefcases into a angular light green ship with 0056-X printed on the side while a worker below fuels the ship by connecting a hose to the underside when he pulls it out too early and fuel drips down from the hose. Captain Skinner is standing near the pilot talking to private Williams.
"Load it up!"
"Are you sure you want to go captain? Remember you could be stripped of rank if you were caught."
"Private, if you say one more word on the subject of me going on the Baird protocol, I'll strip you of
life."
"Sergeant Kyle O. Brian and corporal Even D. Nathan reporting for duty, SIR!"
"Excellent, report to docking ship 0012-X and we'll regroup at these coordinates."
"YES SIR!"
Sergeant Brian and Corporal Nathan board ship 0012-X quickly as possible. The pilot throws the last briefcase in the storage compartment on the underside of the plane and slams it shut. He jumps into the cockpit and turns the engine and gets the ship off of the ground and out of the ship harbor and pilots it toward the orange and grey planet.
"What's it like Nathan?"
"What?"
"The planet."
"SHH! I can't talk about it now, the pilot's still here alongside 10 privates!"
"They can't hear us."
"I'm not risking anything! Just expect a lot of wasteland."
"That's it?"
"Look, my people aren't the kindest, but they won't attack unless provoked."
"How do I prevent that?"
"After all of the time I've know you, you don't know what pisses me off?
"You've never attacked me."
"I've attacked other privates."
"So in other words, don't call you different, weird, strange or mutant."
"GRAHH!"
"Just kidding! I guess I'm prepared."
"Just keep everyone under control, if even one soldier insults someone, the entire platoon could be in
danger. My people may be scarcely found, but they group in large numbers and are a very tight pact."
"I'll keep that in mind."
CHAPTER 4: Touchdown
The ship makes connects to the ground. The privates pour out out the ship.
"GO GO GO!"
Each private heads to the coordinates Captain Skinner gave out. As they move toward the location, they see a ship on the horizon. Now running to the ship they see it crashed.
"CAPTIAN!"
"CAPTIAN!"
"(*cough, cough, choke*)"
"I think he's okay!"
"Thank god."
"Hate to say it sir but, told you so."
"SHUT UP PRIVATE!"
"Command acknowledged, sir."
"(*cough*) Damage report?"
"The ship is totaled, soldier wise, there's you, me and 2 privates, both heavily injured."
"Not the worst I've been through. (*cough*) Anyway, we spotted a ci-(*cough*) city due west of here."
"Alright, Captain you are in no condition to fight, stay back with the survivors, anyone who thinks they can fight, come with me."
(All)"YES SIR"
"Oh, and Nathan."
"Yes Brian?"
"Lead the way."
CHAPTER 5: Arrival
The soldiers approach the city slowly, Nathan signals 3 men to take sniping positions and orders a scout into the city. A centan on a roof fires a bullet one inch over Nathan's head.
"Barak aka geed Nadin?"
"Una barak eak Decion!"
"What the hell are you saying Nathan?
"To translate,
Why have you returned?
I returned to find Dean!"
"Who's Dean?"
"The centan that killed my father."
"How do you know he lives here?"
"I don't, he's famous for committing the act. Nobody has committed a murder in over 200 years. Everywhere he goes is a landmark to his horrible crime, yet we have no law system to convict him, we can only kill him, and it is very hard to kill any centan."
"Well how do you kill one of you? It's not like you have armor on or anything. Couldn't we just shoot them?"
"First off, we are VERY fast. We may look like your planet's tigers, we run like your planet's cheetah's. 0 to 60 in two and a half seconds. Last time I checked, it's very hard to hit a speeding car that's only a foot long."
"I get the damn point!"
"The only way your going to kill one of us is through hand to hand combat, and even that's unlikely."
"What do you recommend then?"
"Just don't tick anybody off."
"Wait, you said nobody has committed a murder in over 200 years, so why is this planet a wasteland?"
"This is a planet we found, not that we built. It was like this when we got here."
"There are several planet's around here, why of all of them, stay here?"
"Because we crashed here."
"How do you know all of this?"
"It's called history, if you don't know it, your doomed to repeat it."
"Go on."
"Well, the reason it's still a wasteland, because we have no building materials. Just messed up cities like this one. We think the previous owners of the planet bombed each other out of existence. That's why nobody commits crimes. We figure whatever made these people kill each other wouldn't come between us. We would be different than them. We would survive."
"Wait, if this planet has no building materials, how to you eat?"
"The only living things on this planet are gardens. There is one garden in the middle of each city. Other than that, it's just us."
"How many cities do you think there are?"
"Thousands, each time we out populate a city, we send three sets of fifteen people each in different directions. We never get contact from them, so we never know if they live or die."
"Hey, if you have no resources how did that guy get a gun?"
"Same as all of the towns, they were here when we came."
"But if you said your kind decided to not kill each other, why would you take the guns?"
"After 217 years of peace, Dean killed my father, and I doubt even Dean knows why he did. But like a trigger, these creatures we call Deneen, named after Dean who is presumed responsible for them coming, started storming into various cities, killing everyone they found. We then searched for something to defend ourselves with. We found these guns."
"So just one last question before we walk into this deathtrap of a city, how did you come to earth?"
"I didn't, I was sent here in a last ditch effort to find a habitable planet and now the only way your going to get people to cooperate here is to say you'll take them back to earth."
END OF PART 1