Epsilon Iv
Corporal_Nixon
Join Date: 2003-02-25 Member: 13965Members
Join Date: 2003-02-25 Member: 13965Members
<div class="IPBDescription">first ns fiction</div> First part:
The dusty, murky wind rushed past the two indistinct figures as they hurtled towards the ground, gathering speed as they fell. Below them, the rocky red earth of Epsilon 4 seemed to rise up to greet them, in a meeting they were unlikely to survive. However, mere seconds before impact the grim darkness of the hostile landscape was illuminated by powerful jets, as their experimental jetpacks activated. Slowly halting, whilst still hovering above the ground, they dropped down onto the rocky surface.
The atmosphere in the deployment room of TSA Harbringer was electric. The 12 marines gathered in the small chamber carefully checked over their equipment, knowing that a single fault in their weaponry, a badly secured piece of armour or even just a loose strap could result in their death. To a man, they were killers, yet still they feared to go down to the planet below them. None of them liked the mystery surrounding the loss of contact with the Primary Surveillance Center on Epsilon, let alone the fact that it was such a grim place to be. Breaking the relative silence of the ship, a metallic voice echoed through the grimy corridors.
‘Pathfinder team have made contact, phase beacon in place’.
Lieutenant Jackson issued a brief order, ‘Move to ready position’
‘Beacon activated’, the voice declared, ‘all teams ready for teleport.’ The gathered marines shuffled nervously.
‘Teleport in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… teleport success.’
The dusty, murky wind rushed past the two indistinct figures as they hurtled towards the ground, gathering speed as they fell. Below them, the rocky red earth of Epsilon 4 seemed to rise up to greet them, in a meeting they were unlikely to survive. However, mere seconds before impact the grim darkness of the hostile landscape was illuminated by powerful jets, as their experimental jetpacks activated. Slowly halting, whilst still hovering above the ground, they dropped down onto the rocky surface.
The atmosphere in the deployment room of TSA Harbringer was electric. The 12 marines gathered in the small chamber carefully checked over their equipment, knowing that a single fault in their weaponry, a badly secured piece of armour or even just a loose strap could result in their death. To a man, they were killers, yet still they feared to go down to the planet below them. None of them liked the mystery surrounding the loss of contact with the Primary Surveillance Center on Epsilon, let alone the fact that it was such a grim place to be. Breaking the relative silence of the ship, a metallic voice echoed through the grimy corridors.
‘Pathfinder team have made contact, phase beacon in place’.
Lieutenant Jackson issued a brief order, ‘Move to ready position’
‘Beacon activated’, the voice declared, ‘all teams ready for teleport.’ The gathered marines shuffled nervously.
‘Teleport in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… teleport success.’
Comments
Groaning, Sergeant Mc Callun raised himself up off the ground, dusting off his armour. ‘Everyone ok?’ he enquired of his squad of 5 marines. All of his members sounded off, full of moans about bruises and scratches. The long distance teleportation system left a lot to be desired in the realms of comfort and safety. In the distance, lights betrayed the location of their target, GVA deep space Surveillance Center. His intercom chimed, he flicked the switch on his helmet to open the coms channel. ‘+++Sergeant, get your team moving towards the center, you’re on point+++’ Jackson ordered. He relayed the order to his squad, and weapons ready, they moved in formation towards the cluster of buildings that made up the center. They were moving to slowly for his liking, he wanted to get out of the low scale sand storms that were whipping around him, but he had to follow standard TSA procedure for such an operation, in that when moving into unknown positions with no reliable idea of enemy strength, extreme caution must be exacted. For all he knew, the station could have been taken over by raiders, extremists or mercenaries. He didn’t want to risk triggering traps that could have been placed in the area surrounding the outpost nor did he want to rush headlong into machinegun fire, so he guessed the caution was necessary. One thing gave him comfort however, and that was the fact that he had 8 marines covering his squad’s rear ends, Beta squad, led by Sergeant Haines, Lieutenant Jackson and Field Medic Rider. All of them were highly trained, armed to the teeth and, most importantly, had been in this situation before. The pathfinders had ditched their heavy jetpacks and had joined their squads, making the numbers up to 6 marines per squad. Cautiously, he and his squad approached the main air lock of the central building. The door required an 8-digit code to open, something that he wasn’t prepared to stand around and take guesses at. ‘+++Nixon, get up here and open the door, quickly+++’ Pulling out his welder from his equipment webbing, the Corporal ran up to the door and began to weld the control box. ‘+++What’s the hold up, Sergeant? +++’ Jackson enquired. ‘+++Nothing sir, just a simple security system. +++’ Replied Mc Callun. ‘+++ Carry on then, we’ve got you covered. +++’
‘Sir? Were through.’ Nixon yelled over the storm.
‘Sir? You should see this’ called Private Nicholson from the front of the team. Mc Callun found him crouched over the defiled corpse of one of the crew of the station, his faced twisted into an almost inhuman expression of utter terror. His stomach had been torn open, and twisted, glistening entrails had spilled out over the floor. There were no signs of bullet holes on the body, and the jagged gashes in his body also revealed that this wasn’t knife work either.
‘Something tells me this wasn’t mercs’ Private Horowitz sarcastically commented.
Theres more to come, as soon as i write it. All feedback welcome, suggestions will be taken into consideration.
good work
I like the +++ as tags
I'm guessingn they have 2 hives because only leap or a fade could make big long slashes...
Thanks for the compliment, much more on the way.
Remember, all feedback welcome.
‘No crap’ PFC Johnson replied.
‘Keep it down,’ snapped Mc Callun ‘We have a hostile situation here and you’re acting like kids.’
‘Johnson only signed up because he thought it would be like cowboys and Indians’ Horowitz joked.
‘Screw you’ Johnson replied.
‘+++Alpha Squad, what it your status?+++’ the vox chimed, silencing them all.
‘+++We have confirmed hostilities, definite civilian casualties and someone probably still in here who isn’t in the business of playing around+++’ Mc Callun reported.
‘+++Confirmed. Hold your position, well move to your position+++’
‘+++Roger that sir+++’
Having linked up, the grunts could do nothing. It was Lt. Jackson’s job to decide if he should request a nano-grid interface device, affectively known as the comm chair or to those more cynical, a meat can.
‘We need to find a place to interface with this stations nano network’ Jackson eventually decided. ‘According to the schematics we studied, that would be the primary control room, up on floor 3.’
‘How does he remember this stuff?’ Nicholson whispered quietly.
‘I always told you he’s a robot’ Horowitz replied conspiratorially.
‘Can it, jackass’ Jackson snapped. ‘Were moving out.’
On point, Corporal Nixon wasn’t enjoying his job. The place was bedlam; junk was everywhere, and they’d encountered three more mangled corpses on their way to the control room. Besides, opening doors blind in occupied territory is never an upside of any marine’s career. Light was scare now, red emergency backups lit level three. Clearly the power was disrupted in some way and the system was compensating by cutting down on the lighting. The lack of light was muffling his senses; it was like operating with only one eye open. He rounded a corridor only to discover that the lights were out totally. He could not see two inches in front of his face. Raising the barrel of his gun, he activated the light on his gun. Then he saw why the lights were off. ‘+++Sir, you should check this out. Its…. weird+++’
Mc Callun hurried forward, an uneasy feeling in his stomach rising as he wondered what Nixon had found. The young Corporal had sounded worried.
‘Freaked out, Sarge?’ Horowitz sneered.
‘You wish, Private’ Mc Callun shot back, reminding Horowitz of his rank. Horowitz had once been a training Sergeant, but had been busted down to Private due to brutality to new recruits. Sure, you have to be a hardass in the Marines, especially as a training Sergeant, but four broken bones in a week of training cant be a coincidence Mc Callun pondered. Horowitz merely growled at his Sergeants comeback. The Marines in Alpha Squad shuddered, it looked like a confrontation was going to happen, but all thoughts of infighting flew out the window when a muffled but all-to-human cry of pain rang out from ahead.
very nice cliffhanger there
makes me want to read more
keep up the good work <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
And hey someone posted besides the annoying kid lol <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
More is on the way, Ive been working on a plan (a little late) but i dont want to rush into anything, but somethings got to happen soon or itll just be boring.
When writing, i find it necessary to set the scene before anything important happens, in particular characters must be fleshed out which ive been gradually trying to do or else the story will end up flat and uninteresting. Also i like to leave a fair bit to reader imagination; allowing readers to fill out the story with what they think it is like caters to a larger crowd (eg i havent described the marines appearence or the appearence of their surroundings in any great depth, although i have a vivid image of them in my mind)
Hopefully there should be another paragraph or two up by tommorow evening.
setting the setting is a very big part of a story, good job and keep up the good work.
don't rush your work, and keep this sweet story coming
mmmust...feed....addiction....to....ns.......fanfic.... <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->