Short Tales 3
The red alert had been sounded. Deck three was now evacuated and completely sealed off. In total six crew were now missing and judging by the condition of the late alien crew, they were certainly dead. Captain Russel paced back and forth in his private quarters, wishing Mic and his team could find a way to detect this 'feral radiation'. They had been working for three days straight, and Russel knew that if he pushed them any harder, something would go wrong.
If that wasn't bad enough a report had just recently come in from the bridge. All sensors and vid-links on deck three were down. So even if they did find a way to detect the hostile creature Russel would have to send in a group to repair the internal sensors.
But as luck would have it the internal sensor control wasn't nearby any of the guarded doorways on deck three. He knew what team to send in to get the job done; he was also going to send Alpha squad to assist Darrik, Sarah, Rob and Simon.
If they could just get the sensors working they could isolate where that damn creature was and seal it off, flooding whatever room it was in with a combustible gas was now considered an acceptable risk.
"Sir, here's Mic's report." Sarge came in holding a data slate; he hadn't looked it over for fear of getting a headache from the technicalities. "He thinks they may have gotten something."
Russel took the slate from him, looking over the myriad of decimals and mathematics. "So they're not completely certain it will work then."
"It's the best we've gotten so far." Sarge stated glumly. "The information Simon downloaded could only get Mic and his team so far."
Grunting as he sat down, Russel turned to look out the window, watching the motionless stars in the distance. "If it's the best they have, Darrik and company will have to rely on their senses for what the scanners can't pick up on."
"I'll send word for them to ready themselves, sir."
"Let them know they are not to take any unnecessary risks. But the use of heavy weapons is permitted." Normally using a flamethrower within a ship caused circuits to fuse, doors to jam and systems to overload, but right now, Russel couldn't care less. Six of his people were missing and presumed dead, the creature could eat a rocket for all he cared.
"Teams Alpha and Recon 1, report to the combat prep room." The voice of Van-Hall was tired, and full of anxiety, though he usually covered it well. The poor husky was on Mic's science team, and none of them had gotten any sleep in the past three days.
Darrik and Sarah had been in the mess hall, at their usual table sipping away at non-alcoholic drinks when the order came through.
"Well, using my powers of deduction we must be going into deck three." Sarah chuckled, trying to mask the fear that by now was biting at the minds of everyone being sent in.
Darrik downed the rest of his drink and stood with Sarah, heading for the combat prep room. "This is one of those days I wish I wasn't in charge of this team."
"Oh?" The vixen cocked her head at that.
"One wrong order and someone could die." Darrik stated flatly.
"Tell you what," she began. "You control the big matters like which way to walk and when to retreat. Meanwhile the smaller choices like when to engage can be up to us."
"You know I can't let you go renegade on me, especially now."
"We won't die, Alpha is the second best team on this ship next to us, and we know how to handle a crisis."
As they entered the prep room Darrik couldn't help but think; 'crisis, yes, but this was a completely different type of enemy, who knew if this creature could even be harmed by their weapons?'
Simon, Rob and Alpha team were already getting geared up; Alpha team in their personal grey armor with the fiery claw emblem; identifying them as a top assault squad. Sarge was among them, of course having his gear donned minutes before anyone else.
"Glad to see everyone's here." He said. "While you prep yourselves here are the objectives: We need to make it to the internal sensor net on deck three where we will cover Simon and Perez while they repair the net. The bridge will then be using the science teams info to try and locate the invader with the internal sensors, so we will have to stay there until they're finished. The enemy will then be sealed off from the rest of the deck, allowing for reinforcements to move in and eliminate it."
"Arms, sir?" Rob was, of course, the first one who would want to know what types of weapons they could use.
"The use of heavy weapons has been authorized but only if necessary. Peters, you will be using the Flamer."
The armored otter saluted and went to equip the small but deadly weapon.
"As we know, this enemy can seemingly re-animate the dead, and six crew are already MIA, if you see them, they are to be eliminated. No exceptions." Sarge gave this last order with a shudder. No one knew if there was a chance the missing crew could be alive. But from what the intruder has done so far, it was understandable that Sarge didn't want to take the risk. "Keep all your senses sharp, alert the group if you notice something out of place. If any of you die, I will bend the laws of this vast universe to punish you in the afterlife. Let's move out!"
The two armored squads left the prep room, the random crewmen they passed saluted, and looked on them with praise, and faith. Most of Alpha team was carrying traditional tactical assault rifles, compact and armor-piercing. Peters was carrying the flamer, and two others were holding close range shotguns, small plasma pellets in their payload.
Sarah had her rifle, and two blades clinking at her sides. Rob of course had his shotgun, pistols, and a satchel of grenades. Simon had a rifle, and pistols, he never saw the point in carrying anything else. Darrik had his combat rifle, with a blade hooked on the end, two pistols and a single sword.
Seeing this group pass by made some wonder how much damage the ship was going to receive, and if it could handle it.
The teams reached the doors to deck three that were nearest to the sensor net, and the five
soldiers guarding it stepped aside, keeping their rifles at the ready.
Sarge stepped forward and punched in the door code, waiting for it to slide open and grant them entry into deck three. It was now being referred to as the 'hell-deck', everyone could thank the crewmen monitoring the vid-links on the deck before they went down for the name. They said that lights were constantly flickering, and dark forms were only glimpsed at, peeking around even darker corners.
Seeing these things play a macabre game of peek-a-boo made a couple of the monitoring crew request transfers, it was way too unsettling for them.
The door to the hell-deck opened, greeting its guests with flickering lights and complete silence.
Alpha team moved in first, the two point-men jogging quietly past the first three pitch black corridors up to the first intersection of halls, checking around the corners and signaling 'all clear'. The rest jogged up behind them as the door to deck three sealed. No one was getting in, or out.
The point-men continued their forward sweeps. Stopping at corners and making sure the side passages were clear before others could move up to cover them. The flickering lights weren't a problem for the teams, it kept them on their toes and made them extra careful when moving forward; decreasing the chances they would be taken by surprise.
Radio-silence had its ups and downs. While the soldiers didn't need to verbally communicate, it would have helped to drown out the unsettling thumping noises they heard coming from random corridors, as if someone was using their hands to try and beat down a door.
Thankfully the doors to the crew quarters were all sealed, and it would take a rocket to blow one open.
"This is Sarge to the bridge, come in." Sarge had his hand to the comm. bead on the side of his helmet.
"This is Russel, report."
"We've reached the sensor net, no contact yet. Simon and Perez are bringing the sensors back online."
The soldiers had reached the sensor net, which was really a good news/bad news situation. The net was built into a column in the middle of a circle five meters in diameter, this was where four different corridors converged. Yes it was good for saving time when moving from place to place, but it was a nightmare for the soldiers that now had to defend it, Simon and
Perez would be working on the sensors, and one or two furs would have to ensure they remained safe, so that left only eight people to defend the four corridors..
"Rob, Peters, you two stay around Simon and Perez, lend aid if needed to the corridor that most needs it, everyone, choose a hall, two to each." Sarge ordered, moving with another of Alpha squad to one of the flickering corridors.
"Expecting an army sir?" Hansel asked, the young panther moved with Sarge to cover the one hall.
"I'm keeping my mind open private," He retorted, raising his rifle to the ready. "I have personal doubts that the alien ship could have been overwhelmed by one bug and brain-dead corpses."
"Make sure you aim for their heads and chests, that seemed to get rid of them quicker." Darrik stated, remembering how one creature kept trying to crawl at them on the late alien vessel.
"S-sir?" Lieutenant Roberts voice came over the comm.. "We have contacts, but they aren't corpses... they look like large... bugs."
"Eliminate them, I don't want anything getting close to us." Sarge responded, surprised and worried that large bugs were now on the ship instead of one large bug and half a dozen zombies.
His order was responded to by a few loud shots and the shrieks of the small swarm of bugs. "They've scattered sir, hit about three of 'em."
Just as the groups confidence began to rise, one of the feline soldiers noticed something.
"Sir? I don't think the lights should be dimming like this." She gazed up at the ceiling, seeing how the lights were slowly beginning to fade. The circular room was getting darker, and shadows were snaking their way around the corners. Two halls didn't dim at all, instead the lights just shut down, giving the four furs guarding them a feeling of impending doom.
"Those of you that need it, activate night vision." Sarge ordered, chills running up and down his spine as all the lights but the small ones illuminating the net station flickered one last time, and went out.
Darrik could distinctly hear what sounded like whispering coming from the pitch black hallway he and a member of Alpha team were guarding, causing that friendly little voice inside his head to make him turn his flashlight on. His comrade followed suit, however the darkness of the corridor seemed to be engulfing the light, and neither of them could see more than a couple of meters. "Simon, how are you guys doing?"
"Finished sir, internal sensors for deck three are active."
"This is Sarge, Captain, the sensors have been repaired and it would be nice if you could get
us out of here quickly, its pitch black here."
"Sir, I'll try to get power re-routed to your position, cant say if it'll work though." Van-Hall's relieved voice answered back. "The science team is already initiating the scan, it should take about five minutes before you can move."
A sudden shock of gunfire rang out. It was the hall Sarah and Daniels were guarding. Dozens of pairs of yellow eyes were darting from side to side, and a high pitched chittering noise bounced down the hall.
The lights in the corridors suddenly flashed on, almost blinding the soldiers using night vision. Daniels was one of those soldiers, and his lapse in concentration and gunfire allowed one bug to leap through the air, bouncing off the walls and evading Sarah's shots. Just as Daniels regained his senses the creature leapt onto him, a large curved spike protruded from its underside, driving into the chest of the helpless soldier.
Peters quickly moved in to fill the slot as Sarah obliterated the small fiend with a few shots from her rifle. He quickly raised the front of the flamer, and let loose a stream of liquid fire into the hall, covering and incinerating the lightning fast hellions in no time flat.
While the small burning masses of chitin finished melting away, Darrik and Jack turned their full attention back to the hall they were guarding. Darrik suddenly felt a sharp and burning pain tear across his chest as he was sent flying backwards and into Rob's strong arms. He regained enough of his senses to watch as poor Jack was lifted into the air by something unseen. Well, it was clear there was something there, the large, half meter long claw covered in the fur's blood betrayed the presence of a very large alien.
"Shit! Focus fire! Focus fire!" Sarge yelled, not needing the comm. bead to make himself heard. Everyone turned, and as Jack was simply dropped to the ground, they opened fire. Sparks flew as bullets blew apart half-powered computer consoles, but only a few holes in the creature were apparently made. Now it was easier to see, four holes oozing a thick purple liquid as well as the bloodied claw were darting back and forth until finally, certain that Jack was dead, Peters let loose another large blast of fire, scorching the camouflaged alien, making it release an ear splitting screech as it simply fell to one, well, thanks to its charred flesh they guessed was its knee.
Rob decided to ensure the man-sized beast was dead. He walked up to it, placed his shotgun against its charred head, and fired, giving everything close enough a nice coat of purple.
"Attention, from what we're seeing here you took out the big one," Van-Hall had that 'you did well... but...' tone of voice. "Before it attacked you it got into the system, the path you came from is now sealed. We're working to fix it but you may have to find your own way back to your starting point."
"We've got two troops dead, Darrik sustained a pretty bad hit, make sure he gets to the medical bay when we get out." Sarge was keeping an eye on the corridor he was standing at, not believing that was it.
"Roger."
Hansel had a med-pack out, filling a syringe with a stimulant, designed to clot the blood around a wound, keeping the victim from losing too much too quickly. He gave Darrik a full dose, seeing as how the aliens claw had torn through his heavy armor like paper, giving him a fairly deep gash across his chest. Unfortunately there was no doubt that their two comrades were dead. No much use in getting choked up about it now though, they still had to make their way off the hell deck.
Rob and Hansel picked Darrik up, holding him on their shoulders as they began to make their way back to the exit. He was unconscious by now, the sudden flash of pain and blood loss only allowed him to stay awake for a few minutes.
The two point men, Jacob and Kass, made it a point to be a little quicker in their checks around corners, they wanted off this deck just as much as anyone else. Left, left, right, left, only a few more turns and they'd be able to see the exit. But as fate would have it, the new enemies hunger was still not satiated. As Jacob peered around a corner and into a pitch black hallway, something struck him. He tried to send a warning to the others over the comm. bead but he found himself unable to speak.
All the poor fur could do was gurgle as his gaze fell to the long pipe that was sticking through his throat. Just before his eyes clouded completely he saw his attacker lurch from the shadows, the peeled and scarred flesh around its muzzle almost gave the impression of a sick grin.
Kass watched as her fellow soldier slouched against the wall before the eviscerated creature. "Jacob!" The quote 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' wouldn't even begin to describe the rage coursing through Kass as her comrade and lover died only a few feet away. She emptied a full clip into Jacob's killer, nearly obliterating what was left of its scarred torso.
Sarge and Peters rushed to her position, covering both corridors as she fell to her knees, tears of sorrow falling from her eyes.
Sarah left the task of guarding their backs to Simon and Perez, immediately moving to the crushed wolf, making sure she was unharmed physically. "Shh, it's gonna be ok, baby."
As Kass stood up with Sarah's help, she looked over at the lifeless form of Jacob. With tears in her eyes she knelt, removing his tags and giving him one last kiss on his forehead.
"Simon, Perez, you two take over point, take your time before you call it safe." Sarge ordered, half expecting the re-animated corpse at the end of the hall to stand up again.
Simon and Perez did as ordered, moving much slower now and taking a good long while at each hall to ensure it wasn't concealing any undead until finally, they reached the last hall.
They could see the exit, the bright lights surrounding it made it seem like the gates of heaven itself. It was still about fifty meters away, with only a few corridors branching off from the hall they were now in.
"I want everyone to take this very slowly." Sarge spoke as he stepped towards the exit. "No one runs, keep a slow pace. If we get too absorbed by the thought of getting out of here we'll let down our guard, and there's still at least five more of those things around."
Not exactly what the soldiers wanted to hear. Now that they had to walk it seemed like the exit was miles away. Then again they had to accept the fact that if they made a break for it they would be wide open for an attack and it wouldn't be likely that any of them would survive.
The seven soldiers took their time. Peters had his flamer aimed forward from his waist, while the others had their rifles raised to eye level. Rob and Hansel were still carrying Darrik, who was at least regaining some consciousness as they could hear him mumbling something about wanting to get a gun to help them but no one could quite understand his slurred words.
The first corridor on their left was lit, so they only had to keep a cautious eye on it as they walked past. The second was on their right, pitch black, which caused Sarge to order the soldiers to roll past it, remembering how Jacob had a pipe thrown through him. Darrik wasn't allowed to roll, despite his slurred and confusing protests, so Rob picked him up, and sprinted across to the other side of the corridors entrance.
"Sir, is that a flame down there?" The tigress April squinted hard, noticing the tiny flicker of orange about waist height from the ground, she couldn't make out anything else despite her superior night-vision.
"I see it." Sarge spoke as he activated his helmets night-vision. "Take cover!"
Sarge and April scrambled away from the corridor as a wall of flame surged past them, blackening the wall it was stopped by.
Sarge was understandably angry at this point. "Since when do corpses know how to use flamers?! Rob, toss me a grenade!"
Rob fumbled around in his waist pack, pulling out a surprisingly small grenade, and rolled it over to Sarges' feet. He picked it up, pressed the activation button on the top, and swung his arm around the corner, sending the small grenade bouncing down the hall. But the corpse had somehow reacted quickly enough to let loose another fiery wave that surged down the corridor, painting it a bright orange. Sarge pulled his arm back a little too slowly; the wall of fire scorched his hand and part of his arm, heating up his armor enough to give him a very painful burn.
Just before he could yell out a curse the grenade exploded, sending a few shards of shrapnel into the scorched section of the hall they were in. They were unfortunate enough to have heard wet slapping noises as parts of the corpse, or corpses as the amount of 'debris' suggested, landed all over the floor and against the walls.
"Damnit." Sarge muttered as he stood back up, wincing at the pain in his arm. "Alright, everyone keep moving."
The third corridor was empty, but the most gut-wrenching. Apparently the few furs that missed the evacuation of deck three tried to make it to the exit, but were ambushed only meters away. Their life fluids were now dried and spattered across the floor and walls. Power wasn't restored to that hall when the teams first entered. Probably for the best seeing as how it saved them the thoughts of what might have happened to them.
The group reached the exit, and with a huge sigh of relief, it slid open to reveal about a dozen well armed soldiers, their relieved captain, and half a dozen medics who immediately started to treat wounds that were sustained. Darrik was immediately rushed off to sickbay, but Sarge insisted he just needed some painkillers and that he would report to the doctors the next day.
The medics couldn't argue with a second in command that had been through a rough day and still had a loaded rifle with the safety off
"Captain's log, November twenty-fifth 2144. Teams Alpha and Recon 1 eliminated the entity that boarded our vessel; leading to the deaths of nine of my crew. Alpha team lost three of their best. I have compiled all the data we obtained from sensors about the alien vessel, this 'feral radiation', and of the effects the insect had on the dead. Teams sent in to sweep the rest of the deck found one of the infected corpses, still, well, not alive, but concious, they brought it into a stasis tube and now the science teams are researching it in every way. Apparently, according to Corporal Mic, the corpses were merely implanted with thousands of smaller insects, acting like a virus that returned all motor functions to the dead. Deck three has been completely cleansed but I'm reluctant to let anyone back on it until we reach the nearest star port for repairs. I will personally be performing a captain's worst job, the deliverance of news to the families that one of their loved ones died in the line of duty. Everyone on board the Starlight will have at least a weeks worth of shore leave. Personally I don't know whether or not we should begin to seek out this new alien race that's at war with these bugs, we could be dragging ourselves into a very dark period of history. End of log."
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Well, it doesn't feel like its as 'good' as the other ones, but at least its longer. Sorry about the wait for it, real life can be a bitch. Again, feedback is appreciated ^.^