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Shadow Part1: Encounter
Date: 13 September 2004, 4:19 PM
Shadow and his squad trudged through the forest. A stripped down battle rifle on his back, a pistol and a few dozen knives round his waist, this would be an easy operation. To destroy technology that could lead to the destruction of Earth. If it weren't his duty he'd be insulted. If he wasn't getting paid that is. Everything could lead to the destruction of Earth. He'd heard of the 'black' project involving certain Spartans. 'Black'. He chuckled to himself quietly. Everyone in Tetrao knew about it. Everyone in Tetrao knew about everything. More than those ONI folks. Fewer people knew about Tetrao then about. He knew they had contemplated using him in the project. As a trainer or fighter he didn't know. He would have liked to get to know the Spartan-117 he'd heard of, he knew they would have gotten on great. But they had been having trouble with it. Something about them being too good. He'd read a few 'black' obituaries concerning the trainers. But he probably would have refused the proposition if it had come. His place was in Tetraodontidae. A hunter. In command of a lethal four man squad. Ruthless and merciless. Trained only to neutralize. Never to wound -always to kill.
He glanced over his shoulder at his squad. Hammer, a bald headed explosives expert. A backpack on his back was packed with explosives and he was covered with guns of every size. His weapons expert Pestis, was fitted head to toe with the largest of weapons. In his hands he carried an M90 pump action shotgun. His sniper was a girl. Beautiful she may be, but this was no place for a lady. But if she could do her job well then she was more then welcome. Sparrow did not carry an S2 AM or any other standard issue rifles. Her rifle, he noticed, seemed totally custom made. By the looks of the accessories on her belt, the rifle seemed to have totally interchangeable barrels, scopes, rounds and rests.
He turned his attention to his surroundings; they must be getting close. This was beautiful woodland. For how long? They had worked out their plan thanks to satellite pictures. Sparrow would lie on a ridge on one side of the small placement while Hammer and would stand on an identical ridge on the opposite side of the post. Sparrow would snipe while Hammer and Pestis would lay down large amounts of suppressive fire. Shadow would infiltrate a small hut and retrieve the disc with this so-called 'tribulation technology' on it. Once recovered, Hammer would dig up an M19 SSM previously buried by a recon team. It would have ammunition to destroy each building in the miniature forest complex.
Shadow halted in his tracks. He held up a closed fist. "Patrol," he growled. They knew what to do in this situation. It was a typical training exercise, just in reality. The sniper dove into the bushes on one side of the dirt path and the experts did the same on the converse side. Then Shadow, unaided, leapt up to an abnormal height of many, many metres into the overhanging branches. The three troops had heard of the almost legendary Shadow. That he had a deformed bone structure and remarkable muscles that enabled him to move at incredible speed with tremendous reflexes and agility. Now they watched in awe at the spectacle, before returning to their task. Shadow perched like a bird watching the path below him. He saw a squad of six lightly armoured aliens proceed towards him. One at point and one at rear with two pairs marching side by side. They each carried rifles of an unknown origin.
Time to have some fun. Shadow dropped almost unrealistically from that height and landed silently. He pulled out a stylish combat knife and looked for half a second at his target, the rear man. He found the weak slit between the seal of the helmet and the shoulder pads and stabbed the knife through it. Just as he had done many a time before, the knife sliced straight through the gullet and the vocal cords so that when the victim screamed, only a quiet gurgling noise could be heard. Blood spurted across his hand and he knew though not the best move in these circumstances it was an effective one.
Unfortunately the other strangers heard the noise and turned, weapons raised. Four shots fired and downed the four men in the middle. Shadow leapt at the remainder and slammed him to the ground. He wrenched off the helmet to see what they were up against. What he saw was indescribable and horrific. Even the battle hardened Shadow retched at it. He stood off it as Sparrow pulled a small, long, thin camera to take a photo of the unknown specimen. Then Shadow raised a sidearm and fired a shot in the centre of the creature, and after seeing how it responded to the wound finally fired a 13mm bullet into the atrocity's forehead. They turned and made their way to the edge of the camp. It was set in a small clearing and presumably it had been built into a dell to make it harder to spot. All the better for them.
Hammer, Pestis and Sparrow moved to the appropriate ridges while Shadow waited for his team to open fire. Sparrow wriggled up the outcropping and obtained a good outlook on the base. See fitted a 2-5-10x zoom and loaded 14.4mm high AP rounds into the rifle. She clicked a long slender barrel into place and thumbed of the safety. Then she caressed the trigger with her fingers and waited for a target to come into view.
Hammer and Pestis moved onto the other crest. Pestis unclipped a heavy minigun from his back while Hammer started digging for the launcher. As Pestis showered the base with bullets the targets ran behind cover. Sitting ducks.
Needle saw the targets crouch behind buildings and sheets of metal. She fired a shot at each one and saw heads detonate in an explosion of dark bluish blood.
Shadow was already inside the hut. A strange machine was upright on one of the walls. He took a chance and tried to use some of his hacking skills. Bingo. A pentagonal disk ejected itself from a slot on the top of the machine. He put it in a small pouch and turned to the door. A creature came in, presumably taking cover from the fire they had attracted. It shut the door and seeing the intruder dressed in black, brought up its weapon. It slammed the but of its rifle down onto Shadow's shoulder. He was surprised by the creature's strength but he'd felt worse. He wrestled the creature against the door. Then he pulled out his sidearm and six shots echoed into the chest of the creature. He slung the being to the floor and fired another shot between the eyes just in case.
He ran outside to see how they were doing. Hammer and Pestis were covering him as he clambered up the hill to meet them. As he did so a tiny, strange worm-like animal hit his shoulder. It started burrowing it's way into his shoulder padding, but he ripped it off. He quickly swung out his custom, single shot battle rifle. It was stripped down for weight. It would only fire single shot that he would conserve ammo and carry less. One shot was all he need. The neck of the creature cracked with the impact and the body dropped to the leaf littered ground in a heap. Shadow gave a signal and Hammer hefted the rocket launcher onto his shoulder and fired several shots. The explosions levelled the buildings and killed whatever survivors there may have been left.
They waited a minute or so and then regrouped in the middle of the clearing. There was a snuffle to the side of them and they saw that one of the creatures was barely injured. "Take it alive." Called Shadow, and Hammer swung the but of the rocket launcher into the thing's head. The thing, unconscious, was then hauled onto Hammers shoulders. Pestis took some gun samples and was about to put some of the small bullet-like creatures into his pouch but changed his mind when they shredded through his gloves and nibbled his fingers. Sparrow took a photo of them and they moved back to the edge of forest. A pelican promptly picked them up and they were whisked of to Tetraodontidae base for a check up and their next orders. And more importantly their pay.
To be continued...
Shadow Part2: Debacle
Date: 18 September 2004, 9:09 AM
Author's note
A note about rank. They don't use standard military ranks. In Tetrao the ranks can be roughly generalised into three groups. The first group are the fighters. They are split into many groups depending on their fighting style. On each operation a temporary Squad Leader is appointed. The second group are the scientists and physicians. They are some of the most important personnel. The third group are the Masters. These include Training Masters, Mission Masters, High Masters and many others.
Enjoy!)
Shadow knocked on the physician's door. He thought about the last mission. They had just got back and he didn't know what was on the disk he had quickly handed in or whether it was of any use. He waited a few minutes pondering the mission and what they may be requested to do next. No doubt it would be to do with the new aliens they had come across.
The door opened and an Asian girl walked out the white room. As she walked past he noticed a large scar on her left arm. A balding man with glasses wearing a long white doctor's coat welcomed Shadow into the room. "Come in Shadow."
"Doctor." Acknowledged Shadow. Shadow stepped into the room. It was small and contained several desks with medical apparatus such as biofoam, medkits, syringes and bandages. Shadow sat on a single chair opposite a desk.
"Can you strip down to your waist Shadow?" Shadow did as he was asked and the Doctor Smoy's eyes widened as he saw the amounts of scratches and wounds the covered Shadow's figure. His chest was clearly solid muscle under the skin but the usual contours across the chest were rudely interrupted by large, crimson gashes. The doctor composed himself and covered some of the deeper wounds with bandages. "I'd like to do some more tests on your...abnormalities. This way please." Doctor Smoy led Shadow through a door on the opposite side of the room, on this side of the wall was a roofless room with a ladder leading up to a solid platform. "Could you go up to the platform please?"
"Of course." Shadow stood below the ladder and rocked onto his reels. Then with tremendous speed he swung onto the balls of his feet and propelled himself upwards. Shadow leapt eight or nine metres up the ladder. The doctor stood in awe. He was a new doctor and was interested in the reports Dr Sporen had left him. From what he had read Shadow could jump 9.74 metres up and absorb a shock from a 15.73 metre drop. He had to see this for himself.
According to the reports this was because of Shadows deformed body. It was only slightly visible from the outside mainly due to the way he walked but was very noticeable in the X-rays. shadow had very thick 'plates' of muscle which were interconnected loosely. He was missing several bones, ribs especially. He had slightly longer toes and thinner feet and like almost all of the members of Tetraodontidae, he was very tall. Not unusually tall, but taller than the average man.
"Would you like to jump off it now?" Shadow had reached the platform and stood there patiently.
"Yes sir." He flung himself off the platform, spreading his body presumably to slow himself down. The doctor flinched slightly as Shadow hit the floor feet first with the rest of his body following suit. The landing was startlingly quiet with only a slight exhale as he regained his posture. Doctor Smoy cleared his throat and took a few steps forwards,
"That'll be all. Just take it easy." Shadow nodded but Smoy knew he would never take it easy.
Shadow entered the briefing room with two other people. Inside the room were four people like him, a scientist who he knew to be Doctor Starlington and Mission Master Shoten. MM Shoten wore an eye patch over his left eye, which had been badly wounded during an unarmed combat training when the Mission Master was younger. Shadow and the other men stood around a square table with a map of a large encampment on it. MM Shoten and Dr Starlington stood at the head of the table, a large screen behind them glowed a pulsated slightly a dull black in colour.
"What's up?" growled one of the heavily built men. MM Shoten shifted aside so that Dr Starlington could move to the side of the screen. The screen flashed on,
"Your objectives will be explained to you in a minute but first we must inform you of other things." The screen showed the creatures Shadow and his team had encountered. It revolved and showed a large wound in the back of its armour but it was other wise unscathed. It had pale grey skin and a four jawed mouth. Its armour was black, thick and leathery looking. It had dark pitted eyes and tentacle like appendages hung from the back, sides and top of the thing's head. The gun then flashed onto the screen along with photos of the bullet creatures. The gun was black like the rest of the armour and had a crude stock. The bullet creatures were a shiny black and looked like short, fat worms. Short, sharp teeth could be spotted on one side of them.
"Have you given them a name?" asked Shadow,
"Immani. That's the plural, it's one Immanis." replied the Dr. The map on the table rose slightly, the hologram creating contours and valleys. "This is one of their larger bases. They have no walls and the buildings are more sophisticated. On the disk you found me," he gestured to Shadow, "are these." The screen on the wall changed to schematics of teardrop shaped ships and horseshoe shaped ones. Other ships accompanied them one by one, some with rings around them, others with limbs jutting out from the sides. "These are not tribulation weapons, neither do they seem likely to be used by the Immani. These vehicles and ships use primarily plasma technology, a technology that far surpasses firing bugs out of basic rifles. Which means someone must have given it to them. We need you to find more disks. There should be some in this building." He pointed to a long building near what appeared to be a town square in the middle of the base. "Recon teams have told us that it seems to be a library of archive but they couldn't get close enough to do anything about it. They've buried comms and radio transmitters around the beach to the west of the forest for you." Shadow saw the encampment was in another forest. MM Shoten started to speak up.
"This is purely a stealth mission. Take as few guns as possible. Kill as little as possible and make sure you get those disks. Squad Leader on this mission will be Virus. Go suit up." Shadow lifted his head from the hologram map. He was the best. He should be Squad Leader. This Virus had better be really good. Shadow turned and walked to the changing rooms with the rest of the men.
He and six other fighters undressed to their underwear. Shadow knew that many others were very religious here. One or two of the soldiers had the word 'REPENT' scratched onto their backs probably done with their combat knives. They slipped into their ninja-like clothes. He looked around at his team and a spark of light caught the corner of his eye. Virus was placing a silver cross around his neck. Shadow walked up to him.
"Could you paint that black or something?" Virus turned so they were nose to nose.
"Why?" protested Virus.
"The glint could give us away. At least put it on under your shirt." Virus pushed him back.
"I've heard of you. Shadow isn't it? I'm in charge of this team so you better get used to it." A fire boiled inside Shadow. The idiot's inanity could get them killed. He had nothing against religion, the opposite in fact. He didn't want to believe in it though; it frightened him. If it was true he would go to hell almost certainly and that thought chilled him to the bone. "Let's go team." called Virus. They marched chanting the usual chant.
"DAMNED be the infidel.
DAMNED be the heretic.
DAMNED be the devils work,
DAMNED be the FOOL!"
More religious words. But were these just an attempt to justify their killings? Maybe a futile attempt to trick God to think what they were doing was right. Shadow would never know until he died and that wasn't going to happen soon. He wouldn't let it.
Ona Morderee stood in the dropship with two veteran Jackals and some even more unworthy, lower class Jackals. He wondered why the Exalted One had sent such a low ranking Elite such as himself for a dishonourable assignment in an ambassador role. His Eminence had told them only sketchy details. The aliens they had trying to get to join the Covenant crusades had been recently attacked by worthless fiends. The Holy One probably wants to use them as bait so that Ona and his squad could have the honour of slaying the nameless ones. In the meantime Ona was told to work as a diplomat trying to gain a bond with the squid headed creatures, swapping technology and such. Apparently the last disks that they had given to the things had been stolen and if it were up to Ona he wouldn't give the pitiful creatures anymore of their blessed technology and find a more powerful race to befriend. He stood patiently in the dropship, waiting to land.
Virus and his team stood on the archive building and were trying to find a way in. The day was cloudy and Virus' pendant hadn't given them away yet. But the clouds were quickly dissipating and Shadow had a bad feeling the team would be spotted as soon as they had totally disappeared. There was a trapdoor on the roof of the building and they finally managed to pull it open. Shadow was chosen to drop down and take what he could. There were a few Immani in the library but that was nothing to Shadow. He whizzed from table to table around the hexagonal columns with disks in them until he found a section with no one near at all. In this section was a large crate. It had a ceremonial looking lid and he couldn't open it with just his hands. Shadow checked the large window on his right to make sure no one was there, then he pulled out one of his knives and used it to easily break off the lid. Inside were neat rows of pentagonal disks. He pulled out as many as would fit in his pouches and a drawstring bag on his side and prepared to escape. As he turned the sun hurt his eyes and Shadow felt the natural heat against his face. The sun. No!There was shouting from behind him and doors crashed as the Immani rushed outside. Shadow waited a few seconds before leaping up through the trapdoor to see the commotion. Two of his team lay unidentifiable on the floor as thousands of small black bugs crawled in and out of their flesh. On the ground below him three more pairs of legs were visible under large hound like reptiles. They were similar looking to the Immani, the same tentacle appendages and two pairs of mandibles. They had a hunched back due to the powerful hind legs and thin front legs. The creatures ripped of large parts of his squad mate's skin and the pool of blood on the floor widened every second. One of his team was MIA, the others KIA. He jumped off the building and ran to the forest as fast as he could. Sweeping through the trees he reached the beach at the edge of it. Two Immani stood in front of him. Shadow pulled out two knives and skewed them each in their stomachs then he thumped the knives again through their foreheads. He scrambled around in the sand trying to find the comms. He looked upwards to see five other aliens charging towards him. Four of them were birdlike with strange beak-like mouths and some had feathers on their head. Strange shields on their wrists flickered on. Two were orange the other an eerie blue. They were roughly just under five foot tall by the looks of it, but what worried Shadow more was the large blue creature charging towards him...
To be continued...
Shadow Part3: Survival
Date: 22 September 2004, 12:40 PM
Dedicated to the memory of Jeanne Unwin. She was an Aunt to as all.
Shadow took a second to take in what was happening. He scanned the scene as quick as he could. The thing charging at him was unarmed. It's jaw seemed quadruple-hinged, a top jaw with two pairs of mandibles for a lower jaw and it's legs were double jointed. Its hands had four fingers, two middle fingers and two thumb-like fingers on the outside of the hand. Its armour was a glorious blue and it roared ominously. The four much smaller creatures stayed on a mound behind the first creature, strange devices which Shadow labelled guns to be safe, were concealed at the moment behind a glowing, green ball that the ends of the weapons seemed to be creating. Shadow turned his attention to the larger creature. He quickly dodged a downward slash made by the thing's arms and regained his footing. He leapt at the alien and thumped his fists onto the back of the alien's head. The thing collapsed to the ground presumably dead. Shadow turned to the lesser creatures and heard a hissing noise which was followed by four bright green spheres that crackled in the air next to Shadow. He prepared to jump towards them when one of his ribs cracked out of place. Next thing he knew his body was being hurled toward the westward sea. The salt stroked his face while a searing pain clicked his rib back. He staggered to his feet when a splash of emerald flashed into his chest. It pushed him back into the sea and he screamed. It was unlike him to do more than grunt at pain but this was a different pain from a bullet or knife wound. He could feel his chest being scalded. His attire was burnt through and his flesh was close to being melted. He stood back to his feet and charged at the now standing, blue alien. His attack with a knife was parried and he was disarmed. His skull pressed into his backbone as a strike to his cranium echoed through his brain. He ran inelegantly towards the minor creatures. A quick blow snapped two alien's spines and Shadow took one of their weapons. He hastily found how to operate it and aimed it at another of the creatures. It blew an orange shielded alien's head backwards and another lethal blow dropped him. Shadow was fascinated with the weapon as it dumped a waste onto the sand. While taking out the last little one he found it could fire smaller shots if he didn't 'overcharge' it and little waste was disposed of. Now for some vengeance. An overcharged shot to the head dimmed the shimmer surrounding the roaring creature, which looked like a shield. It was like the Mjolnir armour's shield in development for the Spartan program. He fired twice more to kill it and one more to make sure it was definitely dead this time.
He ran back down the beach and burrowed at the sand trying to find the comms. He knew they couldn't be buried to deeply so he dug four quick holes. Another quick hole and he found something. But it wasn't a comms system. A hole revealed itself from under the soft sand and Shadow wondered whether to drop down into it. A horseshoe shaped ship like the one he had seen on the disk swirled overhead. Then another. And another. Volleys of thick purple matter crashed towards him. They splashed and scoured the sand, melting it into glass. The ships landed in the encampment and Shadow immediately thought it best to go down the hole then stay and fight. It was dark in the hole and Shadow had to feel for the walls. Grooves in the walls led to twisting corridors and sharp corners. He was careful not to trip on debris on the floor and occasionally found small rooms. Strange glyphs on the walls lit up and hypnotized Shadow temporarily. He broke from the trances as fast as he could and scampered on. He preferred the dark corridors. Being part of the Tenebrae sect of fighters he was trained to work in the dark. He faltered in one of the passageways. Bang, bang. Footsteps pounded on a metal floor. It was a classic and unmistakable sound. A sound he despised. It was coming from behind him, he was sure. Time to run. As he ran he heard the banging speed up. It was almost in sync with his own. He ran down the passageways. Tributaries led from his own corridor, but he decided to run forwards. He could run faster in a straight line. Much faster. He had no time to feel his way and before long he slammed into a wall. Panicking, he felt for other passages. He found none. The banging slowed again. Then there was a roar. An almighty roar. Two roars. A bolt of green flashed from in front of him. He jumped but there was nowhere to jump to. As he landed he could only drop to the floor onto his belly. The bolt cut into the wall and molten jade material fell onto Shadow once again scalding him. He got up again and aimed at where the muzzle flash had been. There was a flash of green from his shot and another roar. Had he killed it? He squinted and could still see two objects moving in the darkness. They seemed to have a good idea where he was too, but Shadow couldn't stay to fight. He would be staying to die. He couldn't run either. Could he? He leapt over the heads of the bulky creatures and ran into a little room. It was well lit in here and Shadow might be able to get a good look at the things. He looked for grooves on the ceiling. Anything he could hang onto. Excellent. There were some large gashes above the door. They would be perfect. He jumped to grabbed two of the crannies and then swung his legs up so he was crouching but on the ceiling. He pushed his heels into more crevices and studied the doorway. The banging was coming closer. Before long the aliens came coming for him. The things were just short of remarkable. Gleaming blue armour was hefted upon them. Spines protruded from their backs. Their weapons seemed almost welded onto their arms and on their other arm was a giant metal shield. Around their waists however was a small band of fleshy orange. Letting go of one crack Shadow withdrew a long, silver knife from his belt. When both the creatures were facing the other way he dropped down, silent as a breath of air and thrust the blade into the thing's back. He ripped the sharp edge out in a gruesome direction to make sure it would be dead. The other thing turned and let out a mighty howl. It charged at him, shield low and before he could react it crushed his left leg with its mighty safeguard. Shadow collapsed to the floor. But noticed a fleshy, uncovered armpit under the alien's potent shield. He crawled under the shield and thrust the bloody blade into it. With another tearing motion he ensured the lumbering beast's fate. Orange blood spurted across his face and torso and the monster thudded on the ground beside him. Shadow wanted to sleep, wanted to rest. But he couldn't. He had to keep running. Sheathing the knife, he ran down one of the branching corridors and slipped back into the gloom.
Pestis and fourteen other Ignigena warriors made their way to a briefing room. He was happy to be part of an Ignigena squad again rather than a mixed one. He was a firm believer that hard-hitting units were better than those stealth teams and such. They walked into the briefing room were MM Shoten waited for them. "This is gonna be fast men, so listen up. A Tenebrae team was sent up to an Immani planet to recover more information about them." Pestis knew that large amounts of Tenebrae teams had been sent to the planet where he had been previously, to find out more about the new aliens. "They never called back. We're sending you in to find them. A quick recon suggests that the aliens they've been doing dodgy dealing with are down there too. We know a little more about them now. They use plasma technology. This stuff burns and melts so we advise you don't get hit by it. We sent those disks off to ONI and they've come up with some names. ONI and us are the only people that know about this and they're trying to keep it quiet, you hear? Based on sat pictures of the last operation, two new aliens have been identified." Blurred pictures flashed onto the screen. He pointed at one of the creatures with the glowing shields. These are Jackals, all right? And this little bugger." He pointed at the blue armoured creature. "Is an Elite. They've been identified as part of the 'Covenant'. We have heard of them before but this is an opportunity to learn a lot more about them. Any questions?"
"Sir, Elite is a stupid name." Asked one of the fighters.
"I know, but ONI will do what they will. Any others?"
"Why Jackals?" Asked Bustum another fighter.
"Apparently they're hunters and scouts. Work in packs. But ONI was pretty blurry about their reasons. Probably because it's NOT important! So are there any other questions that aren't about names?"
"Do you know who that is?" Pestis pointed out the black smudge on the screen.
"It's one of the Tenebrae. We don't know who but consider it a last survivor. He's your objective as well." The picture clicked forwards. A fight flicked raggedly in front of their eyes. In the last picture the smudge was gone and the alien's corpses lay strewn across the beach. There was a small hole just visible in the sand and a large smear of purple 'plasma' was about to impact with the satellite. "We assume he dropped into what looks like a hole. Either that or it's his dead body. Pestis is Squad Leader, now go."
Pestis and the twelve other male combatants stepped into one changing room while the two females stepped into the one parallel. Pestis stepped into the usual camouflage colours, but as they were Ignigena the suits had an orangey haze about them. They each took stolen MA5B Assault Rifles and while the others took large amounts of extra ammunition, Pestis was forced to follow the tradition of every Ignigena Squad Leader, which meant he had to carry a M90 as well. They weighed a lot together but he'd carried heavier. He was surprised to see one of his squad handling an almost antique MA2B of 2525. They each took four sulphur dioxide and three sulphur trioxide grenades. They were filled with the stuff and if those aliens had lungs they would be in a lot of pain. When they were ready they ran to a pelican bay to get lifted to the scene.
Eto Tolkamee stepped of the cramped craft and onto the sand. The glyph on the back of his red armour gleamed in the sun. He took the plasma rifle from his belt and roared. Those foolish creatures had once again let the nameless ones succeed in stealing from them. He wanted to ask, why? but knew better than to question The Exalted Ones judgement of allying with the things. He knew that under the alien's home planet there was a complex made by the Old Ones, but he would have rather taken it by force. He hit what the nameless ones had immorally named a Jackal round the head signalling to it to get out of his way. Hunters, as they had been named, had already entered the complex after the surviving creature. He feared that the Hunters would damage the complex with their large weapons. Other than that everything was fine at the moment. They would enter the complex take the nameless one and have him executed. Yes. Everything was going brilliantly.
To be continued...
Shadow Part3: Survival
Date: 24 September 2004, 10:48 AM
Dedicated to the memory of Jeanne Unwin. She was an Aunt to as all.
Shadow took a second to take in what was happening. He scanned the scene as quick as he could. The thing charging at him was unarmed. It's jaw seemed quadruple-hinged, a top jaw with two pairs of mandibles for a lower jaw and it's legs were double jointed. Its hands had four fingers, two middle fingers and two thumb-like fingers on the outside of the hand. Its armour was a glorious blue and it roared ominously. The four much smaller creatures stayed on a mound behind the first creature, strange devices which Shadow labelled guns to be safe, were concealed at the moment behind a glowing, green ball that the ends of the weapons seemed to be creating. Shadow turned his attention to the larger creature. He quickly dodged a downward slash made by the thing's arms and regained his footing. He leapt at the alien and thumped his fists onto the back of the alien's head. The thing collapsed to the ground presumably dead. Shadow turned to the lesser creatures and heard a hissing noise which was followed by four bright green spheres that crackled in the air next to Shadow. He prepared to jump towards them when one of his ribs cracked out of place. Next thing he knew his body was being hurled toward the westward sea. The salt stroked his face while a searing pain clicked his rib back. He staggered to his feet when a splash of emerald flashed into his chest. It pushed him back into the sea and he screamed. It was unlike him to do more than grunt at pain but this was a different pain from a bullet or knife wound. He could feel his chest being scalded. His attire was burnt through and his flesh was close to being melted. He stood back to his feet and charged at the now standing, blue alien. His attack with a knife was parried and he was disarmed. His skull pressed into his backbone as a strike to his cranium echoed through his brain. He ran inelegantly towards the minor creatures. A quick blow snapped two alien's spines and Shadow took one of their weapons. He hastily found how to operate it and aimed it at another of the creatures. It blew an orange shielded alien's head backwards and another lethal blow dropped him. Shadow was fascinated with the weapon as it dumped a waste onto the sand. While taking out the last little one he found it could fire smaller shots if he didn't 'overcharge' it and little waste was disposed of. Now for some vengeance. An overcharged shot to the head dimmed the shimmer surrounding the roaring creature, which looked like a shield. It was like the Mjolnir armour's shield in development for the Spartan program. He fired twice more to kill it and one more to make sure it was definitely dead this time.
He ran back down the beach and burrowed at the sand trying to find the comms. He knew they couldn't be buried to deeply so he dug four quick holes. Another quick hole and he found something. But it wasn't a comms system. A hole revealed itself from under the soft sand and Shadow wondered whether to drop down into it. A horseshoe shaped ship like the one he had seen on the disk swirled overhead. Then another. And another. Volleys of thick purple matter crashed towards him. They splashed and scoured the sand, melting it into glass. The ships landed in the encampment and Shadow immediately thought it best to go down the hole then stay and fight. It was dark in the hole and Shadow had to feel for the walls. Grooves in the walls led to twisting corridors and sharp corners. He was careful not to trip on debris on the floor and occasionally found small rooms. Strange glyphs on the walls lit up and hypnotized Shadow temporarily. He broke from the trances as fast as he could and scampered on. He preferred the dark corridors. Being part of the Tenebrae sect of fighters he was trained to work in the dark. He faltered in one of the passageways. Bang, bang. Footsteps pounded on a metal floor. It was a classic and unmistakable sound. A sound he despised. It was coming from behind him, he was sure. Time to run. As he ran he heard the banging speed up. It was almost in sync with his own. He ran down the passageways. Tributaries led from his own corridor, but he decided to run forwards. He could run faster in a straight line. Much faster. He had no time to feel his way and before long he slammed into a wall. Panicking, he felt for other passages. He found none. The banging slowed again. Then there was a roar. An almighty roar. Two roars. A bolt of green flashed from in front of him. He jumped but there was nowhere to jump to. As he landed he could only drop to the floor onto his belly. The bolt cut into the wall and molten jade material fell onto Shadow once again scalding him. He got up again and aimed at where the muzzle flash had been. There was a flash of green from his shot and another roar. Had he killed it? He squinted and could still see two objects moving in the darkness. They seemed to have a good idea where he was too, but Shadow couldn't stay to fight. He would be staying to die. He couldn't run either. Could he? He leapt over the heads of the bulky creatures and ran into a little room. It was well lit in here and Shadow might be able to get a good look at the things. He looked for grooves on the ceiling. Anything he could hang onto. Excellent. There were some large gashes above the door. They would be perfect. He jumped to grabbed two of the crannies and then swung his legs up so he was crouching but on the ceiling. He pushed his heels into more crevices and studied the doorway. The banging was coming closer. Before long the aliens came coming for him. The things were just short of remarkable. Gleaming blue armour was hefted upon them. Spines protruded from their backs. Their weapons seemed almost welded onto their arms and on their other arm was a giant metal shield. Around their waists however was a small band of fleshy orange. Letting go of one crack Shadow withdrew a long, silver knife from his belt. When both the creatures were facing the other way he dropped down, silent as a breath of air and thrust the blade into the thing's back. He ripped the sharp edge out in a gruesome direction to make sure it would be dead. The other thing turned and let out a mighty howl. It charged at him, shield low and before he could react it crushed his left leg with its mighty safeguard. Shadow collapsed to the floor. But noticed a fleshy, uncovered armpit under the alien's potent shield. He crawled under the shield and thrust the bloody blade into it. With another tearing motion he ensured the lumbering beast's fate. Orange blood spurted across his face and torso and the monster thudded on the ground beside him. Shadow wanted to sleep, wanted to rest. But he couldn't. He had to keep running. Sheathing the knife, he ran down one of the branching corridors and slipped back into the gloom.
Pestis and fourteen other Ignigena warriors made their way to a briefing room. He was happy to be part of an Ignigena squad again rather than a mixed one. He was a firm believer that hard-hitting units were better than those stealth teams and such. They walked into the briefing room were MM Shoten waited for them. "This is gonna be fast men, so listen up. A Tenebrae team was sent up to an Immani planet to recover more information about them." Pestis knew that large amounts of Tenebrae teams had been sent to the planet where he had been previously, to find out more about the new aliens. "They never called back. We're sending you in to find them. A quick recon suggests that the aliens they've been doing dodgy dealing with are down there too. We know a little more about them now. They use plasma technology. This stuff burns and melts so we advise you don't get hit by it. We sent those disks off to ONI and they've come up with some names. ONI and us are the only people that know about this and they're trying to keep it quiet, you hear? Based on sat pictures of the last operation, two new aliens have been identified." Blurred pictures flashed onto the screen. He pointed at one of the creatures with the glowing shields. These are Jackals, all right? And this little bugger." He pointed at the blue armoured creature. "Is an Elite. They've been identified as part of the 'Covenant'. We have heard of them before but this is an opportunity to learn a lot more about them. Any questions?"
"Sir, Elite is a stupid name." Asked one of the fighters.
"I know, but ONI will do what they will. Any others?"
"Why Jackals?" Asked Bustum another fighter.
"Apparently they're hunters and scouts. Work in packs. But ONI was pretty blurry about their reasons. Probably because it's NOT important! So are there any other questions that aren't about names?"
"Do you know who that is?" Pestis pointed out the black smudge on the screen.
"It's one of the Tenebrae. We don't know who but consider it a last survivor. He's your objective as well." The picture clicked forwards. A fight flicked raggedly in front of their eyes. In the last picture the smudge was gone and the alien's corpses lay strewn across the beach. There was a small hole just visible in the sand and a large smear of purple 'plasma' was about to impact with the satellite. "We assume he dropped into what looks like a hole. Either that or it's his dead body. Pestis is Squad Leader, now go."
Pestis and the twelve other male combatants stepped into one changing room while the two females stepped into the one parallel. Pestis stepped into the usual camouflage colours, but as they were Ignigena the suits had an orangey haze about them. They each took stolen MA5B Assault Rifles and while the others took large amounts of extra ammunition, Pestis was forced to follow the tradition of every Ignigena Squad Leader, which meant he had to carry a M90 as well. They weighed a lot together but he'd carried heavier. He was surprised to see one of his squad handling an almost antique MA2B of 2525. They each took four sulphur dioxide and three sulphur trioxide grenades. They were filled with the stuff and if those aliens had lungs they would be in a lot of pain. When they were ready they ran to a pelican bay to get lifted to the scene.
Eto Tolkamee stepped of the cramped craft and onto the sand. The glyph on the back of his red armour gleamed in the sun. He took the plasma rifle from his belt and roared. Those foolish creatures had once again let the nameless ones succeed in stealing from them. He wanted to ask, why? but knew better than to question The Exalted Ones judgement of allying with the things. He knew that under the alien's home planet there was a complex made by the Old Ones, but he would have rather taken it by force. He hit what the nameless ones had immorally named a Jackal round the head signalling to it to get out of his way. Hunters, as they had been named, had already entered the complex after the surviving creature. He feared that the Hunters would damage the complex with their large weapons. Other than that everything was fine at the moment. They would enter the complex take the nameless one and have him executed. Yes. Everything was going brilliantly.
To be continued...
Shadow Part4: Don't Breath In
Date: 7 October 2004, 4:03 PM
Dedicated to the bridge structure and action guides. Without those lessons my stories would never have evolved in any way.
Tuk's body shook from side to side slightly as he walked onto the sandy beach. He checked his plasma pistol and switched on his arm shield. It flickered from aquamarine to ultramarine and then solidified. He looked at his beautiful surroundings and breathed in the fresh air. The trees swayed behind him and a salty aroma made its way into his head. He let of a small squeak as a hard object swung into the back of his head and stopped the sight seeing. His superior, Eto Tolkamee pushed passed and grunted at him. Tuk rubbed his shaven skull and proceeded further down the beach. He watched as a variety of troops lumbered off the ships and collected themselves ready for battle. Tuk saw their heads turn in the direction of a gleaming white sun. A dot appeared on the horizon. As it got closer two more birdlike articles followed it. They continued to advance closer and closer, giant, grey birds. Ships. Several Hunters took pot shots at the leader. One projectile hit but glanced off, doing little damage. The ship in front swerved forty degrees as if about to land. Then it did. Fifteen nameless ones hopped out two by two. They knelt down, as did Tuk. A veteran elite stepped beside Tuk, ignoring him but letting off a snarl to show his annoyance of this invasion. It had been inevitable, but three ships? Tuk squatted behind his shield and small metal objects bounced off of it.
Pestis pulled the stock of his MA5B up to his shoulder and fired short, accurate shots into the necks of the creatures. Some of his team managed to shred the heads off of some smaller aliens using the same technique, but a particular Jackal, very near to them was being very persistent in its defence. A red armoured Elite stood beside it, a plasma weapon raised and ready to fire. A sharp, female voice called behind Pestis, warning him that she had thrown one of their two frag grenades. A pillar of smoke and fire erupted underneath the startled Elite but unfortunately the Jackal manage to scamper away before it had gone off. Pestis looked around him and saw many of the smaller aliens were doing the same thing. Running into the forest, their guns above their scrawny heads.
Two other Pelicans rested down, further along the beach on either side of Pestis. More columns of flame and dust were expelled from the small, metal grenades they brought with them and over the shouts and roars, squeals could be heard as bodies flew overhead. A flash of icy blue caught Pestis' eye and he saw nine burnt bodies of the squad to his left scattered across the sand. "Spread out!" he called to his team and he signalled to the other two Squad Leaders to do the same. The Ignigena dispersed but made sure to preserve a rigid pattern.
Pestis strafed right, firing accurate bursts into the necks and chests of doomed alien scum. A intense heat sparked Pestis' back and he turned to face the threat. A large blue and orange juggernaut charged towards him forcing him to roll out of its path. As he did so a heavy, metal weight fell close to where Pestis' knee had been only a second before, and splashed sand on to his face like ember caught by the wind. Pestis hastily dragged himself from the dusty floor and swung his M90 to his hip. His shot was postponed by another rush which he managed to avoid. The gun jutted backwards into his waist as he pulled back on the trigger and watched as if in slow motion as eight slugs were discharged from the weapon and soared through the air, penetrating into the soft, fleshy abdomen of the alien. Thick, orange blood exploded from the creature and sprayed the Ignigena's combat uniform and there was a loud thud as the hulking creature slammed onto the floor. Pestis noticed his Assault Rifle situated a few metres from him but the hefty shotgun would be more than useful on its own. Only seconds later, several thuds burst from the muzzle of his weapon and numerous Grunts lay dead at his feet.
The Ossoona's camouflage flickered off and Mena Ottoldee walked up to the throne. The silence engulfed Mena but he tried to ignore it. The pale creature stared back at him, as if it had known all along that Mena had crept past its guards and entered its throne room. The pitted eyes gaped at Mena and the alien stood. Immensely large tentacles arose around it from the bak of its head and it spoke to him in its guttural language. Mena listened to the rasping growls, interrupted by harsh clicks. "I am glad my soldiers let you enter," it said. This angered Mena. He had infiltrated the fortress. He had used his advanced cunning to manoeuvre around its twisted halls. An insult like that would not usually be tolerated but for the good of his empire he would let it pass. "I must warn you. Call your men off my planet. Underground. There's something underground." The Eye of the Prophet found it hard to understand the language but managed to piece it together. He'd taken somewhat of a crash course on the language, but he could speak it quite well. It was understanding the puzzles that the things spoke in that tested his language skills to the limit. "The scaly birds. They have no eyes but they can see. They see more than possible. They make you see too. That's bad. You see the hole. The pit. Your night images flash in your vision. Bad ones. Very bad one."
"Stop these riddles," spoke Mena in their language, "What pit, what night images?" Dreams. It hit him as soon as he had said it himself. Nightmares. Such hellish creatures were myth. Things in legends.
"Do not go underground. They will consume your soul and your..." the creature snarled a word Mena did not understand. He had heard of it before. His masters that taught him had told him that it was indefinable. The equivalent of a heart or mind.
"There is something we need underground. Something of extreme importance to us." Mena retorted, "If we don't get it something terrible shall happen. To you the dangers of not retrieving it are great, after all it is your planet."
"The thing you quest for is not there." The alien released a grimy laugh from his numerously jawed mouth. "There is only caves and corridors." A crimson anger spewed inside Mena. Nothing there? His Eminence wouldn't like that. Mena may be executed with such news. His former successes may help him though; he might pull through. And they would go underground anyway. This creature was a lying fool. Mena would not listen to it. He would tell the Exalted One what must really be down there. The artefacts of the highest value. He only hoped that the ethereal powers above the Holy Ones would forgive him. Mena stormed from the room. His denial broken up only by a grinding laugh which would continue to resound in Mena's head for as long as he lived. And that may not be long.
Ankou fired short bursts of his rifle into the dissipating cloud of alien shit. Almost all his squad had been KIA due to some kind of grenade. Only three of team remained standing. A dark haired girl named Kunoichi and a robust looking lad called Samana. Each were fairly close together despite being ordered to spread out. The aliens were now dropping very quickly. A lack of fire power would most likely be their downfall. With another alien dead almost every second, they were trapped in a spiral of death. Ankou smiled at the thought. And he loved it. Each time he brought a butt down onto a grunt and felt the neck crack in a grotesque way, he smiled. He relished the fight. It was well known that the Ignigena were long rivals of the Tenebrae, the two of them had the most powerful fighting stances in Tetrao. While the Tenebrae got an unknown elation in the Hunt, the Ignigena embraced the Fight itself. Ankou felt the flow of air sculpt itself around his body as he flowed around a melee attack and retaliated with one of his own.
The two squads on either side of Pestis were running low on frags. Pestis would wait for a few minutes more and then let his squad use the sulphur dioxide and trioxide grenades. He looked forward to the sweet smell of the burning latter as it mixed with the water vapour in the air. But he knew better than to smell such dangerous acid for too long. The strengthened concoction would melt his skin and his lungs. Hopefully the aliens would be the ones to smell the sulphur. Then lick the ground.
Shadow swerved through the dim corridors with as much grace as he could. But his wounds slowed him down considerably and a few would be fatal if he didn't get back outside in time. Clutching his side he scurried through the halls, blood dripped over his fingers. His left arm, he dragged along the wall searching for corners and the like. It was with this hand that he felt the smooth, engraved surface of the alien structure break away into a rough, jagged cave wall. He continued deeper but could go no further when a screaming noise entered his ears. It was high pitched and brought up terrible memories into his head. Some long forgotten, some recent which had left open wounds. He had to get away. He ran back towards the mouth of the cave when giant, white eyes gaped at him. They moved as if searching for him. Torches. But those holding them weren't marines, and the beam emitting the light couldn't be being constructed from a standard, human light bulb. Shadow sprung to the side and flattened himself against the wall of the cavern. He could see the silhouette of four elites. They pointed further down the grotto and snarled at each other. A deep, sneering noise. The advanced moving away from Shadow, who had dare not move. Then they dropped to their knees. One by one as if their strength had left them. A roar drained from them and Shadow squinted to see what had happened. There was nothing at first, but then a large birdlike creature bounded towards them. It squawked calling more. Shadow saw they had no eyes and their skin was a morbid green which stretched itself between their bones. He was transfixed, paralysed with dread and horror as he watched the cluster of birds peck at the flesh, tearing it off and throwing it into their skinny gullets. Shadow ran back through the tunnels. He would find a way out. He had to.
Pestis turned his attention to the forest and saw that two rows of Immani had assembled on a long mound and held long rifles in their arms. The first row crouched and loaded their weapons as the back line fired. Seconds later the file in front did the same. Pestis watched Demeter's squad on his left deteriorate as small bugs burrowed into any orifice they could find. The squad teared at their eye sockets as the small slugs ate into them. Pestis finally made a frantic signal to use the sulphur and his team acknowledged him. They hurled the SD and ST grenades into the lines and watched as puffs of sulphur appeared in the air. It burnt its way into the Immani's moist flesh, corroding their lungs as they choked. The battle would end soon. Very soon.
To be continued...
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