Extending The Frontier
Parhelion
Join Date: 2003-05-29 Member: 16821Members, NS1 Playtester
Join Date: 2003-05-29 Member: 16821Members, NS1 Playtester
Hi all - I came up with the idea of this story a couple of days ago, and while the whole plot hasn't been fully formulated yet, this is the start of it. Hope you enjoy it.
<u>Prologue</u>
<i>TOP SECRET
DESIGNATION: S28052187/1053A
PRIORITY: SUPERNOVA
TRANS-SYSTEM AUTHORITY EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT DISPATCH 28-5-2187
Message follows:
At 03:42 this morning, TSA monitoring stations Epsilon, Rho and Omega recorded unprecedented Kharaa activity throughout the Ariadne Arm. Exceptionally high concentrations of bacterium were detected in five star clusters of close proximity, and following standard TSA protocol, unmanned Telescope probes were retasked to these locations for further investigation. Within one hour, distress signals had flooded in from ships in the mining sector of Altair – on the other side of the Arm – reporting heavy human casualties after battles with multiple Kharaa broods.
Whilst it appears that the conflict on board the mining craft has been isolated by effective ship containment measures, the Kharaa must be exterminated and the sector restored to fully-operational status. The reasons for this sudden flurry of alien activity are still unknown, but even now our analysts are examining the collected data: any theories they have will be sent to you later via ELF transmission.
As the ranking officer in the elite TSA Silver Star squadron, you are ordered to deploy to the Altair mining sector within five standard hours. A 7-man marine response crew will be under your leadership, and the TSA transport TSS Solaris will accompany your team to the sector, phasing in your main base and orbiting in attendance with reinforcements. As other Frontiersmen teams assault the ore-transport ships, your task will be to infiltrate the primary mining facility and sanitise it of the Kharaa presence.
I need not stress to you the importance of success in this mission – the observers from the Trans-System Council arrive at Concord Station in two days, and Admiral Studaber and I are of the opinion that this problem will be resolved satisfactorily by the time they arrive.
Good luck, Commander – the reputation of the Authority lies in your hands.
Vice-Admiral Philip Johnson
END TRANSMISSION</i>
<u>Prologue</u>
<i>TOP SECRET
DESIGNATION: S28052187/1053A
PRIORITY: SUPERNOVA
TRANS-SYSTEM AUTHORITY EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT DISPATCH 28-5-2187
Message follows:
At 03:42 this morning, TSA monitoring stations Epsilon, Rho and Omega recorded unprecedented Kharaa activity throughout the Ariadne Arm. Exceptionally high concentrations of bacterium were detected in five star clusters of close proximity, and following standard TSA protocol, unmanned Telescope probes were retasked to these locations for further investigation. Within one hour, distress signals had flooded in from ships in the mining sector of Altair – on the other side of the Arm – reporting heavy human casualties after battles with multiple Kharaa broods.
Whilst it appears that the conflict on board the mining craft has been isolated by effective ship containment measures, the Kharaa must be exterminated and the sector restored to fully-operational status. The reasons for this sudden flurry of alien activity are still unknown, but even now our analysts are examining the collected data: any theories they have will be sent to you later via ELF transmission.
As the ranking officer in the elite TSA Silver Star squadron, you are ordered to deploy to the Altair mining sector within five standard hours. A 7-man marine response crew will be under your leadership, and the TSA transport TSS Solaris will accompany your team to the sector, phasing in your main base and orbiting in attendance with reinforcements. As other Frontiersmen teams assault the ore-transport ships, your task will be to infiltrate the primary mining facility and sanitise it of the Kharaa presence.
I need not stress to you the importance of success in this mission – the observers from the Trans-System Council arrive at Concord Station in two days, and Admiral Studaber and I are of the opinion that this problem will be resolved satisfactorily by the time they arrive.
Good luck, Commander – the reputation of the Authority lies in your hands.
Vice-Admiral Philip Johnson
END TRANSMISSION</i>
Comments
I do enjoy it
I especialy enjoy the fact that you are going to tell us the reason for the upped kharaa prescence later on
good work dude
more if you can, as soon as humanly possible <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<u>Chapter 1: The Deployment</u>
The sleek navy-blue transport powered towards the Altair sector, illuminated by the light emanating from the distant stars of the Ariadne Arm. The twin fusion engines flared brightly as the ship picked up speed, hoping to reach the outpost before the Kharaa overran it completely. In the hold of the TSS Solaris, Commander Anthony McNamara flipped idly through the documents arrayed before him, having gone through each one four times since the ship left Concord Station.
There was not a whole lot of information about the Kharaa. TSA scientific knowledge had been limited only to reports from combat operatives regarding structures, the different species and their respective attacks. Repeated expeditions to try and observe the Kharaa on infested ships had failed miserably – each team of scientists and Frontiersman guards had been torn apart within hours by vicious attacks from amazingly-powerful aliens. When Old Ironhair found out the fifth TSA team had been lost, the blood was supposedly knee-deep at Concord Administration – standing instructions issued to all deployed troops after that was to hit hard, and hit <i>fast</i>.
A lack of information didn’t stop the scientists speculating, however – some of the best exo-biologists had postulated that the bacterium spreading throughout the ships had spawned from three source locations – those areas with ideal conditions for the construction of Kharaa hives. Due to the inherently cramped nature of the ships – after all, those stingy Trans-Govs designed them with economy in mind – three was thought of as the maximum number of hives possible per craft for the Kharaa to create. For reasons still unknown, the Kharaa seemed to control only one hive location by the time the marines were sent in: perhaps it was the fast TSA response time, or maybe bacterial-gridlock cut down the aliens’ ability to secure those locations. At any rate, it was a bonus that his team would happily take.
McNamara picked up his squad list, and studied it for a while, trying to match the names with the men chatting casually as they checked and loaded their standard-issue weaponry. Next to the marines lay their sturdy helmets, personalised with each man’s callsign emblazoned across the forehead. As McNamara’s eyes travelled down the page, he memorised his men’s names: Jim “Firestorm” Deluca, Jason “Voltage” Anderson, Garry “Ice” Thompson, John “Scav” Blackburn, Peter “Chaos” Ronaldson, Jack “Nightshade” Kowalski and Joseph “Ghost” Marlow. Each had been highly decorated for past special operations missions and came with the highest recommendations from TSA command. McNamara had implicit faith in his marines’ abilities, and was sure that they could get the job done.
Everyone in the cargo hold looked up as the pilot activated the ship’s broadcast system, informing the squad that the ship was fifteen minutes from the Altair sector. McNamara stowed his documents in a side compartment of his light armour, and pulled his Cx10 pistol out of his belt to check it was in perfect working order. He mused over the simple yet highly effective TSA design, and smiled grimly as he armed the pistol and replaced it in his holster. His knife was also in his belt, and his CZU light machine gun lay on the ground beside him.
“Okay, guys, we’re going in: let’s see what the Kharaa throw at us today.”
if you manage to create that sort of atmosphere on a sipmple dropship, i cant wait for the infected base.
next chapter please
<!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
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<!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif'><!--endemo-->
dude <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> nice work
I really liked the ironhair tie in, and the scientific speculation <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
superb work
amd z.x has excellent comments as well
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->In the hold of the <b>TSS Solaris</b><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think it would add an extra touch to have the TSS Solaris in regular font instead of bold. It would make the reader have to read the story, instead of skiming through it, to find where this is taking place.
And this is just a suggestion.
I really like it
when are exams done?! I want more!
<u>Chapter 2: The Incursion</u>
As the TSS Solaris darted towards the stricken Altairian mining facility, it began its transformation into combat status. Panels on the sides of the ship retracted into the hull, and several propulsion nozzles emerged, allowing the pilot better control and faster manoeuvrability should an emergency arise. On the top of the ship, a smaller, short-range communications dish powered up, rotating next to the main dish which provided a direct link to Concord Station.
Inside the ship itself, the marines were completing their final checks and preparing to be phased into the facility. While he cradled his CZU in his right arm, Commander McNamara revised the infiltration plan in his head. Once the TSS Solaris had reached the 50-metre proximity buffer between itself and the complex?s docking bay, it would order the command network to saturate the area with nano-sensors to scour the area for any alien presence. Upon receiving the all-clear, the transport would divert energy from its engines to its on-board phase gate, rapidly moving the eight-man team and vital command structures across the small gap, directly into the docking bay itself.
All eyes watched the coloured lights above the phase gate ? orange bulbs lit up as the ship?s pilot initiated the nano-sensor drop and a split-second later, the lights flashed green. Breathing an inaudible sigh of relief, McNamara nodded to his point man, Private Thompson, who stepped up to the phase gate. More green lights lit up around the base of the gate, and as the last light flickered, the ship shook slightly, and the marine disappeared. The rest of the squad moved quickly, one at a time, stepping onto the small platform of the gate and being transported into the combat zone.
McNamara found himself standing in the midst of a large room, with spotlights throwing eerie arcs of brightness against the metallic walls and floor. In front of him, a resource nozzle protruded from the floor, and as he watched it, a resource tower shimmered into existence on top of it, courtesy of the phase gate that they had just utilised. On the raised platform to the left of the nozzle, a command console was phased in, and McNamara quickly ran over to the base of the platform, took the elevator to reach the upper level, and sat in the chair there.
Around him in the bay, his well-trained men spread out: three immediately ran over to the large aft starboard corridor of the facility, while another three took up defensive positions in the starboard airlock just outside the docking bay. The last man, Private Anderson, knelt by the resource nozzle, checking that it was operating smoothly. He was the team?s maintenance specialist, well-versed in all types of repairs and construction of TSA structures. As proof of his unparalleled abilities, the tower was online in a few seconds, and small puffs of white nano-steam drifted lazily to the ceiling.
In the meantime, McNamara had already logged into the command network, having entered the system activation code provided to him by the Altairian mining directorate. Bursts of energy radiated out from the command console, flashing through the ceiling as military-grade nanites surged through the network. A detailed overhead map flashed onto McNamara?s primary screen, and he immediately got to work. The silhouette of an infantry portal appeared at the base of his command console right next to Anderson, and as the marine began constructing it, McNamara issued rapid orders to his men.
<i>- ?Ice, I want you, Scav, Chaos and Ghost to guard the Atmospheric Processing centre ? there?s two resource nozzles there that we?ll be needing shortly.?
- ?Affirmative, skipper ? we?re on our way.?
- ?Firestorm, stay close to Voltage ? there are a few ceiling vents leading into the bay that I don?t quite like ? we could get a nosy Kharaa coming through there. Nightshade, stay right there in the airlock ? if you see any movement, radio in immediately and maintain your position.?
- ?Gotcha.?
- ?Roger.?</i>
As four of his men made their way towards the flashing waypoint on their HUDs and Anderson hastily worked on the infantry portal, McNamara sat in his command chair while his mind worked furiously, working out a plan of attack.
keep up the nice work <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif'><!--endemo-->
I'm Hooked I want to find out whats going to happen next!!!!
I don't have much critisism right now, I rather enjoy your story...
fan fic to me more give
<u>Chapter 3: Contact</u>
The lift clunked noisily as the four Frontiersmen were deposited on the sublevel of the mining facility. CZUs poised in front of watchful eyes, they opened another airlock and proceeded right into an arcing passageway, until they found the Atmospheric Processing centre ? as well as the welcome, glowing puffs of nano-steam wafting from the two resource nozzles in the far left corner of the room. As Thompson radioed back to McNamara, the other three marines took up positions in the centre of the room, one each watching the forward entrances to the room, and the last covering the rear passageway in case of Kharaa ambush.
<i>- ?Skipper, we?re at the Atmospheric Processing centre ? it looks clear...for now.?
- ?Okay, Ice, stand by, resources towers coming in.?
- ?Right.?</i>
Within seconds of the brief transmission, two glowing images had materialised on the nozzles, and Blackburn and Ronaldson moved forward to construct them while the other two provided cover.
Back in the docking bay, McNamara made the necessary preparations to place an armoury, anticipating the need for ammunition in the immediate future. Minutes ticked by as he waited for more resources to trickle in from the towers, and in the meantime, he shifted focus to the three largest rooms in the complex. The words ?Engine Room?, ?Feedwater Control? and ?Refinery? gleamed on his monitor as the cursor hovered on each space, and McNamara stared at them intently, wondering which of those contained the very aliens he was seeking to destroy.
While there was no specific documentation of any Kharaa attacking ?doctrine?, McNamara had read many combat reports describing the events that had occurred once the bacterium had discovered the TSA intrusion. The active hive in the immediate area would immediately start to spawn multiple copies of the basic Kharaa creature: the agile skulk. From then on, it appeared that one of the skulks would evolve to a gorge, a builder class for the aliens. This gorge would move around, constructing defences and resource chambers, and eventually, additional hives. Evidently, the key to success lay in destroying the gorge as soon as possible, to delay the Kharaa evolutionary stages until a new gorge started its work.
The skulks were highly effective at stopping early marine incursions ? each had powerful jaws and razor-sharp claws which enabled them to cling to any surface, be it a wall or a ceiling. Many Frontiersmen had lost their lives at the expense of skulks...the very ones that respawned almost instantly at a hive after they were filled with TSA plutonium-enriched lead. In an attempt to curb the rapid depletion of Frontiersmen reserves, TSA scientists worked feverishly for years to develop an experimental prototype that would phase a dying marine out of the combat zone, back into the attending dropship. Upon arrival, he would then be treated with emergency medical nanites and sent back in through the infantry portals that any experienced TSA team was taught to put up immediately upon arrival.
<i>- ?Hey, skip ? we?re kinda vulnerable back here if the skulks decide to pay us a early-morning visit...how about we set up some turrets and then get moving to a hive location??
- ?That?s a good idea, Voltage, but...?</i>
McNamara?s words were cut off by a flurry of gunfire from somewhere behind his commander?s chair. As he repositioned his display right over the main entrance to the bay, he realised that the light green dot representing Private Kowalski had vanished, and in its place, four red dots swarmed towards his base. The commander burst into a frenzy of activity, sending an emergency call to two of the four marines situated in the Atmospheric Processing centre. After that, he dropped another infantry portal in the docking bay, to speed up the re-entry process for his marines, should any others fall in the battle.
The four blinking dots on the commander?s console moved ominously into the Starboard Airlock, and paused. McNamara took advantage of this time to initiate the building of a turret factory in the Atmospheric Processing centre, and open the two airlocks leading to the centre so his two men could get back faster. In the meantime, the portal was being built while the other Frontiersman there gripped his CZU tightly and prepared to repel the alien attack. Seconds passed, in which time, Kowalski had reappeared in the docking bay through the infantry portal, fully combat-operational, and the two reinforcements from the Atmospheric Processing centre had arrived via the lift. All five marines in the docking bay trained their weapons on the Starboard Airlock entrance...and were met with the ominous silence that suddenly spread like a plague throughout the whole facility.
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Good work, there on BAST, my favorite level <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
ooooooooh, TSA redemption...most intersting,
good discription of the vanilla skulks, however you might want to add that they usually didn't have defenses chambers at this time and were cut down by a few bullets, this would add the flip side to them being voracious killers...
I want MORE, MORE I SAY <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
Well, it’s not a form of redemption per se, but it’s a way to explain how you can get infinite marines spawning from portals when you die <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->good discription of the vanilla skulks, however you might want to add that they usually didn't have defenses chambers at this time and were cut down by a few bullets, this would add the flip side to them being voracious killers... <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Hmm, I was attempting to make it sound as if they had caught the Frontiersman by surprise – the gunfire was more of a reflex, finger-locked-on-the-trigger-as-you-die kind of spray, as compared to one that was aimed at the skulks. It’s a good point about the evolutions, though, I’ll have to keep that in mind as I write <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->god damn. how long does it take you to type up one of these? not a typo in sight from my wee skim, and its quality is superb.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Depending on whether I have an idea of what I’m going to write about (as compared to sitting down and having to think), it takes me about an hour or so to write each chapter, and then a few minutes to proof-read and iron out any problems in expression. I do it all in Microsoft Word, though, so minor spelling and grammatical errors are picked up for me <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Next chapter after my last exam, which is on tomorrow <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
best of luck!
I notice you put me in it <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> cheers <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Anyway, exams are all over... we can now relax eh <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ?
- Volt.
whoops, I've got to go <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I notice you put me in it <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> cheers <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
Anyway, exams are all over... we can now relax eh <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ?
- Volt.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Yeah, I put you all in, how do you like being the techno-weenie? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> Just kidding, but I'll expect you and Scav to be my...technical advisors <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> Exams are indeed over, and relaxation is in order...until our next Economics test <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Anyway, on with chapter four!
<u>Chapter 4: Baby Steps</u>
McNamara stared in bewilderment as the four red dots faded away to black on his screen, the look on his face matching those of his marines. Deciding to use this reprieve and take key areas of the facility, he placed several turrets near the chokepoints of the Atmospheric Processing centre for the two Frontiersmen there to build. Next, he placed another turret factory in the docking bay for Anderson to work on, and then commanded the other four to move immediately into the Starboard Airlock and into the main junction of the centre. The shimmering images of an infantry portal, armoury and observatory awaited them there, the last being squeezed into the very end of the Port Airlock in the hope that the Kharaa would not see it and rend it to fragments of titanium and silicon.
While these events were unfolding, the actions of the Kharaa nagged at the back of McNamara?s mind. Why had the skulks attacked, killed his sentry, and then retreated? Was there something he had overlooked? As he clicked on the icon for a resource tower to cap the nozzle in the Main Aft Junction, he wondered what his alien counterpart, the gorge, was doing at the moment. <i>Building their second hive, most likely</i>, said a sardonic voice in his mind. The sudden radio transmission jolted him out of his reverie.
<i>- ?Skip, all the turrets in the centre have been completed, you want us to head back??
- ?Yeah, Ice, head back. Ghost, come back and grab a shotty ? I?ll need you for overwatch in the Atmospheric Processing centre while we grab ourselves a hive.?
- ?Sure.?</i>
Minutes later, McNamara nodded with grim satisfaction as he saw a locked-down Atmospheric Processing centre, complete with marine guard, turrets covering his main base, and a hefty chokepoint in the Main Aft Junction with six marines ready to take a hive location.
<i>- ?Okay, team, we?re heading for the hive in the engine room, which should be empty. We?ll establish a bank of turrets and cap the tower there, and then we?ll see how else to go about exterminating the Kharaa. Nightshade, Chaos and Firestorm will go up, while Scav, Voltage and Ice stay in the Main Aft Junction.?
- ?Sounds good, skip - we?re off.?</i>
As the group of three marines detached themselves from the junction and made their way up the long corridor to the facility?s engine room, McNamara began rethinking his tactical plan. The Kharaa must surely have had a second hive by now, and that meant...fades! McNamara?s heart pounded as he remembered old TSA combat reports that described initial encounters with the deadly fades ? tough, powerful shock troops that had decimated ill-equipped marine squads and torn buildings apart with splashes of highly-corrosive acid. With that thought occupying his mind, McNamara ordered Anderson back to his main base, and placed an arms lab for upgrading marine weapons and armour. He also initiated the upgrade of the armoury in the Main Aft Junction, and set down phase gates linking the docking bay and the chokepoint ? integration of his squad would prove vital in the interim period between now and the time when he could issue advanced weaponry like the famed TSA heavy machine gun.
A jarring klaxon sounded in his commander?s console, and McNamara?s head snapped around to his tracking screen. A group of red dots moved quickly from the bottom of his screen towards the chokepoint in the Main Aft Junction...and it seemed that two of them moved slower than the normal speed of a skulk. McNamara froze in horror...not fades...so soon! The bursts of CZU fire spurred him into action, and he quickly dropped shotguns for the two marines holding the junction. He almost sighed with relief as he saw two green dots charge down the main engine corridor without the need for orders, and dropped two more shotguns near the armoury in preparation for their arrival.
Watching from his command screens, McNamara saw the four marines crouching behind the armoury for cover, tearing the skulks apart with their shotguns while the turrets fired at the two shadowy fades waiting in the corridors leading to the junction. The turret bullets ricocheted harmlessly off the fades? carapace, however, and McNamara?s eyes widened as the fades began to unleash acid rockets into his outpost. While acid soaked into the metal of the turrets and the reinforced titanium began to deteriorate, he saw his four marines stand up and charge in desperation at the two fades, their Serieux shotguns blazing devastating sprays of lead.
I see the commander knows how to take fades down, and four marines rushing with shotguns should be more than enough. (if they can get close)
The cones of shotgun fragments tore into the fades’ carapaces, blasting bits of skin off their humanoid limbs. Acid rockets flew from the protruding growths on the aliens’ shoulders, slamming into the advancing marines and spraying them with corrosive liquid. An instant after they were hit, medkits materialised on the ground at their feet, courtesy of some quick clicking by McNamara and the swift response of the command network. Watching anxiously through his screens, the commander saw his four marines dispatch the two fades, but not before a barrage of projectiles destroyed their perimeter turret defences.
Thompson swore as he picked up the last medical kit on the floor, inserting it into the marked port on his armour’s interface panel. Those rockets from the dying fades had obliterated all of the turrets in the junction, together with the turret factory – for now, the four marines here would have to remain, until more turrets could be constructed.
<i>- “Chaos, how’s it going with the hive at the engine room?”
- “Nearly finished, skip – just have a few more turrets to put up. A phase gate would be good here, so we don’t need to man it constantly.”
- “Good idea, Chaos, maybe I’ll recall Ghost too for a full-scale offensive.”</i>
As the welder held by Anderson sealed the casing of the advanced armoury, McNamara checked his resource meter...not nearly enough to issue the squad with heavy machine guns to crush the Kharaa with a swift attack. McNamara placed a prototype lab right next to the arms lab in the corner, and when it had been completed, tasked it to download the information for production of jetpacks from the TSA central network. Maybe they would come in useful as the battle progressed.
How could he shut down the chokepoint and then launch a full-scale attack on the hives? The two fades had just demonstrated their capacity to destroy turrets with comparative ease, and he knew that his team would be in trouble if more than two decided to drop in for a cup of tea and a chat. McNamara wondered if the fades could teleport through walls like the TSA standard-issue manual said they could. He had studied some aspects of phase technology in his physics degree – the Kensky/Libovah effect seemed like a ridiculous proposition. It was impossible for an object to miraculously cover distances, or materialise on the other side of a wall – energy was needed to deconstruct the matter, transport it through some means, and then reconstruct it in that new location. The TSA phase gate prototype took massive amounts of energy to phase a few marines over a comparatively short distance – how a fade could do it, McNamara didn’t know.
Perhaps that mysterious bacterium was at work, again – could the fade be somehow absorbed into the bacterial network that pervaded the whole facility, resulting in a displacement of mass somewhere else? The mass would have to travel instantaneously through the bacterium, and be of the same configuration as the fade itself...McNamara shook his head in wonder at the highly-specialised evolutionary capacities of the Kharaa.
He had yet to explore these mysterious vents running throughout the mining ship...the bacterial network must have entered them, and the fact that no Kharaa had was a surprise to him.
<i>- “Okay, skip, we’re all where you ordered – what are we doing now?”
- “Well, I need the resources to come in before I can issue heavies – stay cool until then, Ice.”
- “Ha, very funny sir – we’ll be waiting as per your orders.”</i>
McNamara thought back to the early stages of the TSA invasion – Ghost had complained that the Starboard Airlock prevented him from retreating to the safety of the docking bay, leaving him to the teeth of the skulks. While it had resulted in a painful mauling and near-death experience, at least the airlock would shield them from any alien attacks, even if an alien evolved to the dreaded onos. The prototype lab beeped loudly to signal that its download had been completed, and spurred McNamara to check his resource meter again. As his gaze travelled towards the top left of his screen, his eye flicked over his threat screen, missing the five red dots moving silently towards the Main Aft Junction from the direction of the Refinery hive.
I like the speculation about the blink, thats something the TSA may never know...
keep it up
can't wait to see what you have in mind.
The dense orange cloud erupted without warning in the passageway leading to Main Aft Junction, spreading quickly until the confined corridor had been filled completely. A split-second after the cloud burst into existence, four acid rockets announced their presence, splashing against the reinforced armour plating of the advanced armoury. The marines standing guard in the junction snapped into action, trying to take cover behind the structure as Thompson screamed a warning over the tactical radio.
<i>- “Goddamnit, skipper! Umbra and acid rockets in the Main Aft Junction!”
- “What the hell!? Stand by, I’ll take a look.”</i>
Tearing his eyes away from the resource counter, McNamara stared at his threat monitor, shocked at how the aliens had managed to approach the chokepoint and assail it without his knowledge. Evidently, four of the five dots were fades, and the fifth had to be a lerk providing the umbra protection – McNamara knew from TSA manuals that umbra rendered most weapons useless, robbing bullets and shotgun fragments of a significant proportion of their velocity. Whilst this fact had been well-substantiated from combat experience, requests by TSA scientists to investigate and determine the composition of this mysterious cloud had been savagely rejected by Admiral Studaber. In light of the fate previous scientific missions had suffered, and the vicious nature of the lerk, McNamara was not surprised at the admiral’s reaction.
From a cursory examination, the lerk didn’t look like a dangerous creature. Sure, maybe its teeth were a bit too pointy for it to be a household pet, but there was no indication of its ability to shred Frontiersmen with deadly spikes, or clamp its powerful jaws on vital areas of a person’s body. The noxious sporecloud it could create when the Kharaa had access to three hive locations also sent a shiver down McNamara’s spine – if a sporecloud ever came your way, you either got the hell out of there, or waited for the infantry portal to phase your revived body back into the combat zone.
In his chair, the commander racked his brains as his men tried to penetrate the cloud with their shotguns. Clearly, any attempts to use guns would be futile, and wading into melee range against fades with those little standard-issue daggers would be similarly useless. The advanced armoury was down to about half health now, and McNamara dropped a welder so one of his marines could repair it and buy himself some time. All weapons seemed useless against the umbra! Perhaps...the grenade launcher? It was a horrible weapon to use unless assaulting hives, particularly because the grenades had an uncanny tendency to ricochet off the walls and fragment, hitting the person who wielded it. <i>FriendlyFire didn’t work so well with that little monster,</i> McNamara thought, <i>but it’s better than sitting there, waiting for the acid to burn through.</i> Seconds later, two Arc grenade launchers thumped down, next to the crouching marines.
<i>- “Sweeeeeet! Thanks, skip!”
- “No problems, Scav, just get rid of those damned fades.”
- “You got it.”</i>
Blackburn shouldered the heavy launcher, which hissed slowly as the gas-based propellant was loaded into the firing chamber. Nodding to the other marine holding a launcher, he pumped two grenades into the orange mist, hearing them detonate a split-second later. As two more grenades soared into the air from the other launcher, he heard the tortured cries of the Kharaa pierce the air, and then nothing. The cloud-like umbra slowly dissipated seconds later, and Blackburn slammed his fist on the upper casing of the repaired armoury.
The aliens had disappeared.
I would think that the good admiral would have wanted to investage the umbra, and would probaly have tried to capture a lerk "but for some strange reason it would only spike or bite in captivity..."
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<u>Chapter 7: Marines on the March</u>
McNamara pursed his lips in barely suppressed displeasure as the radio transmission appeared on his command HUD. Taking out those four fades would have struck a crucial blow against the Kharaa, and made life a lot easier. Maybe better weapons would prove vital ? McNamara turned to his console and started to issue heavy machine guns to the marines without the grenade launchers. Half a minute later, five marines ? four with heavies, one with a grenade launcher ? stepped onto the elevator platform in the docking bay, making their way down into the Atmospheric Processing centre.
As with all offensives, you had to make a start somewhere. TSA tactical doctrine dictated that you should strike the Kharaa where it hurts them most: at their hives. Whilst this was a very simple rule to follow, carrying it out in the field was quite another issue. As far as he saw it, the hive location at Feedwater Control was the better one to assault first ? his marines could then sweep towards the port side of the ship, quickly taking out the Refinery location before the aliens had a chance to react. Any attempt to move towards the hive in the engine room would be cut off by his new bank of turrets and a Frontiersman in the Main Aft Junction, and the alternate route there via the ventilation system was being sealed off by Private Anderson?s trusty welder.
With one hive virtually inaccessible, the aliens would have no choice but to defend their hive with everything they had, or dash through the vents back to Feedwater Control. It would be like a game of cat and mouse, but if his men could strike a blow against their resource intake in the process, the Kharaa would be hard-pressed to keep up the fight. This was, of course, if everything went to plan...McNamara tracked his marines? progress as they advanced cautiously past the access door to the ship?s water filtration plant.
Private John ?Scav? Blackburn gripped his newly-acquired heavy machine gun in his hands, having passed his grenade launcher to Marlow, who was fourth in the advancing group. It was like a whole new world down here ? faint traces of green swarmed through the walls like fine cracks through frosted glass. His curiosity urged him to touch the luminous substance, to run it through his fingers, but his mind reprimanded him severely: ?I?d better not...I might turn into one of those damn fat gorges,? he muttered to himself.
Thompson, up ahead, edged his head around the corner of the Steam Generation plant, his HMG barrel centimetres below. Two of the other marines with heavy machine guns trained their weapons on the corridor wall in case the Kharaa caught sight of him, and the last covered the rear passageway while Marlow loaded his grenade launcher. From what he could see, the corridor ahead seemed to branch left and right ? there was no sign of any Kharaa though. Thompson sent a message to his skipper via HUD transmission...typing was a lot safer than talking, especially with the sharp hearing abilities the aliens possessed.
<b><i>Ice:</b> Skip, can you do a scanner sweep on the two hives? We need to find out if the hives are lightly defended or packed to the teeth.</i>
Seconds later, nano-sensors burst out of the command network in a brilliant spray of incandescence, startling the Kharaa into movement which was detected and relayed to McNamara?s command console.
<i>- ?Okay, Ice, from what I can see ? there are three Kharaa at the Feedwater Control centre, and three in the Refinery ? two haven?t been picked up, so be careful. Remember, motion tracking will work in your favour, try to scare them or force them to move, then nail them.?</i>
Two bursts of static and five seconds later, the five marines reached the junction and split up, each man taking a deep breath, heart pounding in anticipation of what awaited him on the other side of the wall.
nice
I want to see some kharaa get pwnt!
can't wait until the next one