BlackIntel Forum
BlackIntel => General discussion => Topic started by: Twigs on October 27, 2009, 12:30:37 pm
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Gwynzer knows I have been listening to the audio book of the new Star Wars 'horror' novel DeathTroopers. Inspired by the story I've decided to write a short fan fiction setting it in the First Strike community. Who better to play the parts of the infected undead attempting to spread the virus' influence and control than BI!
Thought I best post it here cause I know the sense of humour police regard any and all posts by me as herecy in the face of Black Intel.
Oh, if any of the none FS players like Star Wars then some more of my short stories can be found on the First Strike forums. If this post hasn't been deleted and Gwynzer feels up to it he may even link to them to make it easy for you to find them. Be warned though...they also feature Black Intel member references, in one story one of you even deliberately 'team kills' someone. Sorry about that, didn't realise it was a sore point ;D
As the saying goes, if you can't laugh at yourself who can you laugh at? :D
**EDIT**
I'll go ahead and post each piece up as it's complete. Whats your age classification, not that there'll be any swearing, just don't want to give you kids nightmares :P
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braaaaaaains.
Links, in published order:
http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8892 (http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8892)
http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8894 (http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8894)
http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8898 (http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8898)
http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8902 (http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=8902)
http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=9009 (http://forums.fsmod.com/viewtopic.php?id=9009)
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Null Specter Station.
Chapter One. Alone
The armoured convoy slowed and came to a stop at the foot of the winding mountain pass, the hum and whine of their repulsor engines echoing back from the towering rocky faces around them. The setting sun had already dipped below the peaks of the cliffs, throwing the valley in to cold dark shadow. There was no other sound, even though the T1-B gun turrets continuously scanned for resistance, there was no evidence of the Imperial presence expected.
Benu checked the sensor scans from the rear of the armoured Freerunner, other than his own vehicle and the rest of the rebel attack group around him the area was clear.
“Maybe it’s a trap.” He thought to himself, “I bet the pass is mined and a kill zone prepped.”
He relayed the sensor detail to the rest of the armoured column before reaching up and opening a com frequency.
“Sir, still no sign of enemy activity here, maybe it’s a trap.”
“Perhaps, stay alert and secure the area. We’ve finished up here and we’re going to advance up the service shaft to the top. Once we’re up we’ll recce the pass and guide you in.”
Out of range of the other rebel forces sensors, Gwynzer closed off the com. Around him stood a small squad of soldiers, each one hand picked by him for their individual talents. He considered them the best the Alliance could offer and he’d spent a lot of time in the field with them. Even now they were checking power levels in weapons and securing their kit, all the time scanning the Imperial landing platform for any sign of enemy troopers.
Towering above them, the dark grey service shaft beckoned, its single entrance appearing like a black mouth ready to eat them whole. If it was a trap, this would be where he and his forces were likely to face it. He blew out sharply, readying himself for the task ahead.
“Move out guys and stay alert, those Imperial scum are waiting up there for us and we need to guide Benu’s tank group up. Samzi, keep that med pack handy I don’t want to lose anyone.”
“Don’t worry about it boss,” grinned the medic, “I gotcha covered.”
“Alright then, move forward, deploy UAV’s and keep chatter to a minimum.”
The six men moved forward, watchful, silent and deadly, disappearing in to the black maw of the service shaft. The landing platform once again was silent, except for the drip, drip, drip of pooling liquid around some abandoned crates. Dark, red and completely unnoticed by the rebels.
Benu felt isolated. He’d volunteered as the groups sensor officer even though he hated to leave Gwynzers squad without his expertise. A slicer with many years experience hacking Imperial systems, he’d proven himself more than once when the group needed him. Checking the scans once more he cracked open the Freerunners hatch and stepped out.
“Still nothing,” he called out, “I’m taking a breather while Black group cover the distance to the top.”
Other rebel troops had already started to relax and one officer called back to him, “Sure thing, nothing here anyway. You sure this thing is occupied? Still under construction isn’t it? Maybe they took a break and went home.”
“Imperials don’t just abandon something as big as this,” Benu answered sauntering over and reaching out for a protein bar, “Trust me, they’ll be waiting up there somewhere. I just hope the rest of the guys….Gwynzers guys, don’t meet any trouble on the way up.”
“You’re part of his team aren’t you?” asked the Officer, removing his helmet before setting it on the ground to use as a small stool. “How come you didn’t stick with them?”
Benu shrugged, “Sensor officer fell sick and I volunteered to take his place. The area’s compact enough that we can cover 60% of it with one Freerunner so Gwynzer agreed.”
“Black Intel…sounds like some sort of Imperial project, how’d you get that name?” The man peered up at him, chewing a mouthful of something before swallowing it noisily.
“Well, guess you could say we do the jobs no-one else wants to do. You want something from an Imp facility, we’ll get you it. I’m Benu by the way.”
“Krenyo,” answered the officer, reaching up a hand in greeting, “I may not be your usual boss, but don’t worry. I know the intel reports, might as well know this place like my old stomping ground. Through the pass, one more minor installation then on to the main facility, I’ll get us through this.”
Benu nodded and studied him. He looked sincere enough, smart too. Even had that look Gwynzer sometimes got, as if he merely had to imagine success to achieve it.
“I better get back, check the sensors and listen out for them.”
“Sure thing, if you need anything just holler. This place is dead anyway.”
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Well written Twigs, I like the way you write.
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Chapter Two. The First.
They were about halfway up now. Power had been cut off inside the tower and it was pitch black. The small windows inside completely covered by the shadows cast by the setting sun outside. Darkness surrounded at them and nagged at the back of their minds, thoughts of Stormtroopers lying in wait kept them wary. Still, the local sensor droids indicated no life inside the tower except them.
“Break here,” ordered Gwynzer, “quick drink of water and we’ll keep going.”
“Where are they boss?” asked Slyfox, a quiet unassuming guy yet deadly accurate with his A280.
“They’ll be around,” Ati, the squad’s heavy weapon specialist patted his rocket launcher like a pet, “and when they show up, BOOM!” He laughed and the rest of the guys joined in, happy to relieve some of the tension.
“Keep it down guys,” Gwynzer chided as he chuckled, “maybe they’ve got some sensor block operating.”
“Not a chance,” answered Thomas, “we’re still showing on the scans so it’s picking up alright.” As if to emphasise his point he showed Gwynzer a datapad and stabbed at their location. “See.”
“Yeah yeah,” Gwynzer snorted, slapping the pad away, “maybe it’s some sort of cloaking thing then. I dunno, either way it shouldn’t be this easy so just shut-up and pay attention.”
A scuffling noise reached them, faint but distinct in the tall tower’s dark imposing structure. It stopped, replaced by the clang of a falling object, seemingly coming to a rest on the catwalk directly above them. The group immediately fell silent and looked up, peering through the void trying to make out the source.
“Thomas..” whispered Gwynzer
“Nothing boss,” came the reply, “I’ll check it out.”
Before Gwynzer could tell him to wait, Thomas sprinted ahead up the rising ramp, footsteps echoing back towards them as he advanced. They waited, gauging the reckless soldier’s progress as his steps changed in frequency indicating how far he had progressed.
“Come on up,” he shouted back after a few moments, “nothing here.”
Gwynzer led them forward, blasters pointed upwards scanning for any threat. Ahead lay a pile of crates, positioned like some kind of makeshift barricade.
“BOO!” shouted Thomas, jumping out from behind the pile and throwing something at them. He laughed as Gwynzer dropped to his knees to avoid it and swung his weapon to bear. Samzi caught the object and studied it, a broken Stormtrooper helmet, the lenses smashed and its surface scored with scratches.
“Relax,” grinned Thomas, “I found that still rolling about, probably just a rodent knocking in to it.” He coughed, covering his mouth with his hand then wiping it down the front of his uniform.
“There’s some blood back here too, must have been some kid of accident. Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen anyone yet, they had an accident and went to get medcare.”
“Maybe,” muttered Gwynzer, he glanced at Samzi who shrugged his shoulders in return, “well at least it proves there’s someone, or was someone, around.”
He made his way over to the crates and peered over, blood covered the area and pooled in the corner of the ramp. Thomas indicated round him, “See, must be an accident, something probably came to have a sniff and disturbed the helmet.” He coughed again, a deep hacking cough that caused him to double over.
“You alright?” asked the squad leader, reaching over and thumping him on the back.
“I was,” groaned Thomas, “until you tried the beat my lungs out.”
Gwynzer shrugged and looked him in the eyes, “One last thing.”
“Whats that chief?”
Gwynzer punched him in the jaw sending him sprawling to the floor. “You ever pull that cacking stuff again during an op and I’ll shoot you myself.”
Thomas laughed and pushed himself up, then collapsed again in another coughing fit. “Some...people have no sense of humour” he gasped.
“Samzi, take a look at him, he doesn’t look too good.” Gwynzer waved the medic forward as he frowned over Thomas’ hacking form.
“Don’t know what I can do Sir,” said the medic, running sensor scans over Thomas who continued to cough and seemed unable or unwilling to get to his feet, “no sign of infection, no bio hazard warnings in the air. Maybe it’s just an allergy to something.”
“Yeah, I’m allergic to Imp’s” cackled Thomas again before another coughing fit sent him into spasms.
Samzi flinched and covered his own face as Thomas coughed over him, feeling something wet hit him with each one. He looked down, blood. Lots of blood.
“This isn’t an allergy,” he said, injecting Thomas with some basic anti-virals, “maybe some new chemical weapon, I don’t know. I can’t treat this here.”
“If it’s some new weapon why haven’t we picked up anything, and why aren’t we all feeling the effects?” Blind, the support trooper, moved forward. Despite his name, he had the best eyes of anyone and could manoeuvre through the dark as easily as in daylight.
“Whatever it is its acting fast,” snapped Samzi, unpacking more equipment as Thomas continued to worsen, “his lungs are filling with blood, he’s drowning.”
“Can’t you drain it?” said Gwynzer, putting his weapon on the crates and kneeling down to assist the medic.
“No good unless I can stop the haemorrhaging.” He answered, “He’s going to bleed out before..”
The small bio scans shrilled as Thomas’s life signs stopped. Samzi sagged back in disbelief and shock, he’d done everything he could with the small field pack, but he felt helpless.
“Samzi. Samzi!” Gwynzer shook him and pushed something in to his hands. “Defib him!”
Samzi shook his head. “No use. Whatever it is I can’t treat it and he’s lost too much blood.”
He leaned forward and propped Thomas on to his side, giving the appearance of someone asleep, asleep that is apart from the dark blood that slowly dripped from his mouth as it drained.
“Ati, Blind, cover the walkway ahead, Sly go cover the rear” ordered Gwynzer as he stood and reached for his blaster without looking, his hands instinctively closing over its familiar pistol grip. The men nodded silently and silently slipped away, the darkness swallowing them whole.
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I'm dead :o
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I'm dead :o
FINALLY!
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Chapter 3. Scream.
Benu twitched nervously in his seat. There was still nothing showing on the sensor scans and there’d been no word from Gwynzer. “Relax,” he told himself, “it’ll take them longer than that to get in to position. They’ll call if there’s a problem.”
The instrument panel before him beeped and startled him from his thoughts, “Yes Sir?”
“Ben, we lost Thomas.” Gwynzers voice sounded tinny through the electronic scrubbers, but he could still pick up a trace of emotion through it.
“What? How?” Benu asked, his own shock evident.
“He got sick, real quick. No sign of any bio hazards or chemical spill and the rest of us seem ok. Maybe some new weapon the Imperials have deployed, I don’t know. Sam doesn’t know of anything natural that acts that fast.”
“Maybe you should pull back boss.”
“We found what looks like some kind of accident, Thomas did… There was blood on the floor and Thomas must have touched it, maybe that was the carrier. Samzi has given the rest of us a clean sweep and we’ve medically scrubbed anything that came in to contact with it. We should be ok, don’t think it’s an airborne virus.”
“Gwyn, I’d fell better if you just got out of there. Something doesn’t feel right.”
“Just hole up down there Ben, get in the vehicles, seal the hatches and treat it like a bio attack until we find out more. Samzi can’t find any trace of anything foreign, so like I said I don’t think it’s airborne.”
“Boss,”
Gwynzer cut him off before he could continue, “Follow orders soldier. We have a mission and we WILL complete it.”
“Aye Sir.” Answered Benu, then closed the frequency down. Gwynzer was wrong, he could feel it. He stepped out of the hatch again and turned, almost bumping in to Krenyo and some of the other men in the armour column.
“Everything alright Ben, you look a little pale.” Krenyo looked at him quizzically, a flicker of concern showing across his features.
“Black Intel. They lost a man.”
“They had a contact? Why didn’t they call in?”
Benu shook his head. “Not a contact. He got sick. Fast. Maybe something Imperial, a weapon. The others are fine, Gwynzer doesn’t think it’s airborne but said we should seal up and treat for bio attack.”
Krenyo mulled it over for a moment before nodding. “Ok, everyone climb aboard your vehicle, seal in and activate full air scrubbing.”
The men immediately obeyed, climbing on and into T1-Bs, APC Freerunners and Mortar Freerunners. Engines fired up and hummed as the systems activated, while door seals hissed closed, perfectly cutting the men off from any outside contamination.
“It’s getting dark anyway Ben,” Krenyo addressed the ashen faced young slicer and threw an arm over his shoulder, “Come on, me and Impy here will keep you company.”
The name threw Ben and he considered it for an instant as he and Krenyo clambered aboard. “Impy?”
“Former Stormy. I defected a while back but some things just stick ya know.” The man answered Ben’s question gruffly as he swung the hatch shut behind them. “Don’t worry junior, I been on the right team for a couple years now.”
The remark was enough to make Ben grin again as he swung his chair back to face the bank of screens and data terminals, “Ok old timer, well try to keep up. I don’t think we got anything big enough to carry your wrinkly old frame up there.”
Krenyo smiled at the remark and glanced over to Impy who caught the look and nodded before he reached over and playfully cuffed Benu. “The kid’ll be alright,” thought Krenyo, “Impy knows how to size the new guys up.”
Outside, the sky flared to bright red as the sun threw one last effort to light the landscape before sinking below the horizon. Night drew quickly, engulfing everything in darkness. No lights could be seen from any of the Imperial installations and no moon hung in the sky. Clouds obscured the distant stars, as if conspiring with the elements to lock the surface in darkness.
Ati and Blind stood silent guard in the towers walkway. Below them Gwynzer and Samzi finished cleaning up the area where Thomas had passed away. They had removed all his weapons and Gwynzer tucked away a small letter. He made every member of his squad write one before any operation, in case anything happened it was something that could be sent to a loved one. That final goodbye you could never make in person.
Samzi had already moved off to rejoin the others, and Gwynzer was ready to move on. “Sorry pal,” he whispered, resting a hand on Thomas’s shoulder and gripping it, “we’ll come back for you. I promise.” He gave it one last shake and squeezed his eye’s shut, forcing back the tears and gritting his teeth against the rising lump sticking in his throat. He stood and threw a final salute then turned on his heal and headed off through the never ending darkness to find his men.
“Boss,” whispered Ati, “I’ve spread the heavy gear around, I’ll take Thomas’s A280, should be more effective than the launcher, specially in these corridors.”
“Aye,” said Gwynzer, “Good idea, but I want you to keep the shield, any trouble that’s the first thing you use, we’ll cover you.”
“You got it sir,” answered Ati, “still no sign of anything moving up ahead.”
“Ok, before we move any further I want everyone on masks, no point taking a risk.” Even as he said it Gwynzer was already reaching for his own respirator, a small personal filter that would scrub the air of any germ or chemical and render it safe to the user.
He opened a localised com channel back to Slyfox instructing him to do the same adding, “Hold tight for the moment, we’re still sorting things out up here.”
The others were fastening the masks around their faces, securing the harnesses to ensure a tight seal against the skin when Blind cursed. “Must have dropped it getting over those crates. Be right back Sir, sorry.” He slipped back down the ramp towards Thomas to retrieve the item while the others checked each other and made sure each mask was properly fitted.
“Hurry up!” Gwynzer called to him as he sank from view, “we need to make up some time.” Ati coughed behind him and he and Samzi spun in alarm, the medic already pulling out his medpack.
Blind barely heard the muffled noises behind him as he strode back to the crates. He could already make them out in the gloom, a bundle on the floor beside them marked Thomas’s lifeless form. He advanced quicker now, eager to retrieve his mask and get back to the group. Even though that had been a friend on the floor, dead bodies made him twitchy. He flicked on a small penlight, one specially designed for covert op’s with a dim yellow light that gave everything a sickly pale tone. There it was, on the floor near Thomas’s foot.
“They could have picked it up for me,” he scowled to himself and reached forward, “lazy hutts probably didn’t do a proper search before they left.”
The foot twitched. He shrank back in alarm, “Thomas?” The bundle on the floor remained motionless, “Easy now,” thought Blind, “it’s just your mind playing tricks. When you moved the light the shadows moved, that’s all. Just get the mask and get out of here.”
He reached forward again and heard it. A shallow, almost inaudible, rasping sound. He stopped, his hand still outstretched and cocked his head to listen. It was coming from that, thing, he couldn’t think of the corpse as Thomas, his friend wasn’t in there now. Samzi said he was dead, he had to be. Samzi never made mistakes. The foot moved and this time so did the head. Blind fell backwards in shock,
“Samzi! Boss!” he shouted, “He’s still alive!”
Thomas was moving a little more now and Blind rushed forward to prop him up, “Easy mate, they’re coming back for you now. Those Imp’s must have a sensor block running after all, Samzi’s bio scans said you were dead.”
Thomas moaned as the rasping heavy breathing in his chest quickened.
“Whats that buddy? Didn’t catch it, just take it easy. Whisper it, you need to save your breath.” Blind dipped his head and placed his ear close to Thomas’s mouth to try and catch the feeble words. His sick friend reached up with both hands and gripped Blinds head tightly. Too tightly. And they felt cold. He tried to pull away from them as Thomas opened his mouth again. Blind could feel his hot fetid breath against his cheek, it smelt terrible, the copper tang of blood assaulting his sense of smell.
“Easy pal, I’m...Aaarrrrrrrrrrrgghh!” Blind screamed as Thomas lunged forward and sank his teeth deep in to his neck. Sharp points punctured through skin and in to his windpipe cutting off the sound as blood seeped from the open wound. Thomas pulled back and tore a section from Blinds throat, whose eye’s widened in disbelief and shock. He could see in to Thomas’s eye’s now, there was no one behind them. This wasn’t his friend, no soul occupied the body that gripped him. The thing opened it’s mouth again and Blind screamed in silent terror as it tore back in to his throat.
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Chapter 4. Alive.
They all heard Blind calling them then his strangled scream being cut off. Samzi already had Ati on the floor, desperately trying to find the cause of the infection as he coughed and writhed around.
“I’ll go check it out,” said Gwynzer, already starting towards source of the commotion, “get hold of Ben, let him know something’s wrong and do what you can for Ati.”
Samzi waved him off and concentrated on the patient, watching the bio scans marking the rapid deterioration in Ati’s fight for survival. There was nothing wrong! No viral signature, no chem hazard, nothing that would point to a reason behind the strange disease that now seemed to stalk them one by one. Ati lurched to the side in another coughing fit. Samzi had lit a glowrod and in the dim light he could make out the glistening wet blobs. Blood. Just like Thomas, Ati’s lungs were filling with blood. He reached to the medpack and grabbed a long tube and inserted it to Ati’s mouth, pushing it down deep within the mans respiratory system. The fluid filling him began to drain out and his coughing abated a little. Samzi had bought some time to cure the illness, but only a little.
Gwynzer ran towards the crates, grabbing a powerful torch and illuminating the path ahead. The beam lit them up like something from a childhood nightmare. Thomas sat bolt upright, cradling Blind in his arms and feasting on the flesh around a gaping neck wound. One of Blinds legs twitched in spasm and Gwynzer could see the blood around the hole welling up, fresh and bubbling. Blinds lungs feebly moved in and out.
Thomas was eating him alive!
“STOP!” he screamed, raising a blaster and aiming at Thomas.
Silence fell again as the echoes died away, only to be replaced by a sickly squishing noise as he drove his head further in to Blinds throat. He pulled away and turned to look at Gwynzer, his jaws still working while pieces of flesh hung from his lips and bright red blood covered his face. His skin was a sickly grey as if already rotten. He threw back his head and howled, a menacing terrifying noise that caused the hair on Gwynzers neck to prick up and seemed to suck the very air from his lungs. High above them came an answering scream, but this one came back louder, much louder.
The weapon in his hands shook as fear gripped him in an icy hold and chilled his core. “Thomas!” he pleaded, the words coming in a terrified shakey whisper as the thing before him tore once more in to Blind. Above, another screaming howl echoed towards him followed by another from deep below in the bowels of the tower. Thomas turned to look once more then screamed back as if challenging him. It pushed Blind away and stood before moving towards him, salivating and drooling.
As soon as he heard the screams Samzi keyed the com, “Ben!”
“Samzi? Wheres the boss?” he answered, puzzled at the break in the chain of command.
“He went to check on Blind, Ati’s sick now too and… I don’t know. We’re not alone here.” Samzi cleared his throat nervously, he felt silly telling Ben he was frightened, but he didn’t know what else to tell him. “I think we’re trapped, I don’t know if we’ll make it. Maybe you should track back.”
“Samzi, you’re the medic right?” a new voice came over the channel, it seemed calmer, in control.
“Who is this?” asked Samzi as he pulled open Ati’s tunic with a spare hand to check his chest.
“I’m Captain Krenyo, I’m leading the armoured column. What can you tell me about this illness? I need a full sitrep.”
“Sir, I can’t tell you anything, the scans pick up no infection, no hazards in the air...”
“Ok, what about the forces in the tower with you, how many Imperial troops?” Krenyo interjected.
“I don’t know, they don’t show on any of the sensor scans. Sir, I don’t think they’re Imperials.”
“Ok, regroup and get out and back to the LZ. I’m pushing the column forward. That sensor station must be destroyed.” Krenyo closed the channel and Samzi was left once more alone with his patient. Ati’s chest heaved up and down in the glowsticks light and as he watched something seemed to move inside, writhing under the skin. Ati’s flesh was turning grey, Samzi could see it moving up, changing from healthy fleshy pink to the sickly pallor.
The screams echoed through the tower once more.
Back near the crates Gwynzer dropped the light he was carrying and took hold of his blaster with both hands, trying to still the twitching weapon as the cries chilled him once more. Thomas lumbered towards him, that hungry mouth gnashing in glee at the prospect of another feast. “What the Sith Thomas, come on! You know me!” He still pleaded with him, yet deep down he knew that there was only one way this could end, kill or be killed.
Thomas lunged and snarled, a bright flash smashing in to his chest and throwing him backwards as Gwynzer pulled the trigger. At close range the weapon burst a hole straight through his chest and exposed flesh and bone. It twitched again then flopped to one side before lifting those dead eyes back to look at Gwynzer.
“Impossible!” he gasped, “Impossible!”
It outstretched an arm and began to try to crawl towards him, a bloody smear creeping across the floor as it edged forwards. Gwynzer took aim carefully and snapped off a single shot to Thomas’s head, twisting the corpse round as the shot struck home and obliterated it. This time it stayed still. Blind had stopped breathing and the howling echoed through the tower once more. Gwynzer bent over and vomited on the walkway, pausing until he was sure his stomach could take another look at the scene near the crates. Two of his friends were now definitely dead, one from his own doing, the other from something he still couldn’t understand.
“Gwynzer!” came a voice in the darkness, “we got to leave, NOW!”
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Your writing was and still is amazing! This story keeps me on edge.
What if we made some models of dead and have 'em attack the Rebs? Like on a dark and dirty version of Null. :o
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Chapter five. The Past.
At the foot of the mountain pass, the hum of repulsorlifts from the collection of rebel vehicles was a gentle reassurance of life on what so far had been a dead planet. Inside the APC Freerunner Krenyo’s face appeared pale, lit by the bank of screens at Benu’s workstations. Beside him, Impy sat bolt upright, his body locked rigid and his eyes wide with fright.
“Impy?” said Ben, reaching over and shaking him, “hey whats wrong?”
Krenyo turned and frowned, he’d never seen the man like this. He ignored it for the time being and opened another frequency to address the armour column.
“The Black Intel group have run in to some problems and can’t scout the pass. We’re going to go in anyway while they fall back. Stick close and keep the APC centred in the group and remember to stay in the sensor bubble. Move them out.”
He felt the Freerunner surge forward, pushing him back a little in his seat as the sound from the engines increased in volume, the sudden pitching from the front marking the entrance to the pass. On the sensor screen the rebels were still the only echoes coming back to mark the presence of any sentient being.
He looked back at Impy. Benu knelt in front of him in concern, shaking his knee and trying to elicit some response.
“Impy!” Krenyo made the words sound like an order and the former Stormtrooper snapped his head round, eyes still wide with fear. “Talk to me soldier,” continued Krenyo, “report.”
“Leave.” Stammered Impy in a hoarse whisper, “Leave now. They’ll kill us all.”
Krenyo puzzled over the words, it wasn’t fear of the Imperials, he could sense that. It was something else, something the man had recognised. “Explain it to me, quickly. We’re already in the pass.”
Impy sagged his head forward and let out a heavy sigh, then told them what he knew.
“I was part of a clean up crew, one of the reasons I defected actually. We went to deal with an abandoned Star Destroyer, Vector.”
“Abandoned?” interrupted Krenyo incredulously, “by 10,000 crew?”
Impy nodded, “You could say that. Space around it was littered by dead ships and an old prison barge. They’d manufactured some kind of virus and it got out, infecting the crew. It’s different, it kills you then…” he shuddered. “It brings the dead back to life.”
Benu and Krenyo looked at each other in disbelief and Ben shook his head as if dismissing the idea.
“That’s impossible,” he said, “someone would have heard about it.”
Impy stared at him, “Oh it happened alright. We sent a boarding party to the Destroyer and they brought back a sample. To keep the crew safe they were kept in isolation as soon as they were brought back on, locked down in a cargo bay. They got infected, started feeding on one another until they all became…things. In the end we had to space them.”
“What happened to the other ships?” asked Krenyo, trying to decide if this was some kind of joke or not.
“We were part of a fleet. As soon as the boarding party got back everything was turned to slag, like cleansing with fire I guess. No real sign of anything other than a huge debris field now.”
There was a sudden jolt and the Freerunner pitched up and on to it’s side, throwing the three men round the sensor suite like toys. Alarms shrilled and echoed as the tank rolled and came to a stop upside down, smoke beginning to fill the air inside.
“Everyone out now!” the drivers urgency was clear over the internal com system. Krenyo coughed and reached out, activating the release mechanism for the door. It hissed as the seals deflated and mechanisms whirred as bolts released before it swung open letting the cool night air flood in. They scrambled out and ran forward to get some distance from it.
“Sorry sir,” said the driver, “The pass is pretty unstable, the nose just pitched up as we hit that rise and she rolled.” He indicated upwards and as he did the clouds parted a little allowing some starlight through. They could make out the small Imperial outpost ahead, two gun turrets and some firing pillars flanking each side of the pass as it snaked through.
“Can we get it moving again?” asked Krenyo indicating towards the downed tank, “We need those sensors.”
As if in answer, something ignited on the Freerunner and was followed by a small explosion, illuminating the area and sending a fireball high in to the air.
“I think that’s a no.” said Ben kicking the dirt and balling his fists in frustration.
“Did anyone get a sensor ping from the outpost?” asked Krenyo, weighing up the options and studying the silent and imposing Imperial building.
“There was nothing Sir,” answered Ben, “Its as dead as everywhere else.”
The other rebels had also dismounted, those that had the equipment to do so carried out short level scans, while a small group of medics took some air samples. “I can’t detect anything sir.” One of the medics shouted over to Krenyo, another hurried over to check them over. Other than a few minor scratches none of them had suffered any injuries.
“No-one in the outpost boss,” one of the foot soldiers reported, “I’ve thrown out a short range scan, should be good for another ten minutes before the power dies.”
“Ok guys,” acknowledged Krenyo, “Secure this one as well. Maybe we can find some answers inside.”
The screams reverberated off the rocky sides and bounced back at them, echoing again and again. Each man paled and looked up towards the source of the noise. The sensor dish dominated the sky line, its network of buildings clustered round it like black ghouls silhouetted against the night sky.
“They know we’re here,” whispered Impy, “it’s too late.”
Krenyo was now starting to believe the mans story, yet he still felt the need to complete his mission. “The Freerunner is blocking the way anyway, take the three rear T1-B’s and head back to the LZ, we’ll take the rest and destroy that dish.”
Impy considered it and blew out, “I’ll come with you. There may be some survivors.”
“Survivors?” asked Ben, “I thought it was contagious?”
“It is.” Answered Impy, “but some people have natural immunity. You can still get infected though if one of those things bite you, least that’s how I remember being told about it.”
Krenyo stared. “Bite you?”
Impy nodded, “They feed on the living, the bodies become infected and then they…”
He shuddered. Thinking back to the images from the cargo bay as the men inside turned on one another and succumbed to the disease. The howling scream reverberated from the cliffs again. The rear section of the rebel convoy was already mounting up in preparation to head back, but each of them once again turned as the noise assaulted their senses.
Impy strode forward and unshouldered his weapon. “Come on,” he said, “lets get this over with.”
“Head back Ben,” said Krenyo, nudging the young man back, “you don’t need to go up there.”
“Yes I do.” He answered staunchly, squaring his shoulders and facing the officer. “I need to know what happened to them. To Gwynzer. They’re my friends.”
Impy shrugged. “His choice Sir, he can make his own decisions. One thing though Ben, I know it’s hard to believe until you see it, but if they are infected don’t think of them as friends. They’re dead and they’ll kill you so shoot first.”
He nodded and paled under the starlight before trudging forward towards the Imperial outpost. The group of T1-B’s behind them were already backing away down the pass, while the two tanks they had left at the front manoeuvred towards the small stack of buildings.
The howling echoed again. Closer.
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Keep them coming Twigs, I love these stories! :)
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Chapter 6. No way out.
There was a new noise in the service tower now, a gentle echo that reverberated around the walls of the shaft. Muffled footsteps, scratching, it was difficult to describe but the source was both above and below them. Gwynzer crouched down to check on Ati as Samzi continued to try and treat him.
“Whats with his chest?” He asked, eyeing the bulbuous mass moving under the skin.
“I don’t know, it’s some kind of fluid. I’m trying to sample it now.”
Samzi already had a syringe with grey gelatinous liquid inside, drawn from Ati’s strange affliction. He scanned it with a portable medi-pad and frowned over the results.
“Looks like some kind of virus, but I don’t understand why I couldn’t detect it before. I’ve never seen anything like it, I’ll need better facilities to study it. Where’s Blind?”
“Dead,” Answered his Squad Leader, “Thomas attacked him and tore his throat out. He was… eating him.”
“What?” Samzi stared at Gwynzer, “Ate him? But Thomas was dead.”
Gwynzer shook his head, “I know I know but that’s what I saw. He tried to attack me to, I had to shoot him.”
“Boss, that’s impossible. He was dead. No life signs, I even checked his pulse myself in case it was a scanner malfunction.”
“Samzi, I know what I saw ok. Whatever happened to him probably affected the Imps too and by the sounds of it they’re coming to get us next.”
Something clanged from above, then again a little closer. Whatever it was it was falling from an upper level, striking against the walkways. It flashed past them, smacking against their platform as it continued down, a blur of white and red. A dark wet bloody smear indicated where it had hit and the two men glanced at each other.
“I think that was a Stormy.” Gwynzer said and Samzi nodded in agreement. Ati interrupted their thoughts with another sudden coughing fit, his chest rising up as his body went into spasm again. Samzi’s med pad shrilled a warning alarm. He was dead.
“Push him off the side.” Ordered Gwynzer, already grabbing the arms of his dead squadmate and pulling him to the edge.
“What?”
“I’m not taking any chances, Thomas was supposed to be dead too and he died of the same thing, now get him over the side.”
Samzi panicked, what if he wasn’t really dead? Maybe he could still help Ati. “Boss just wait, if he isn’t really dead then maybe I can do something. Maybe the virus shuts down the vital organs temporarily but leaves enough brain function to reanimate him.”
Gwynzer shook his head, still trying to drag the limp corpse to the side and down the central shaft. “He’s dead, whatever that thing is inside him has killed him alright, then it... I don’t know what it does but when he comes back it’s not Ati.”
Something clattered above, maybe a level or two over their heads and howled. The things that had them trapped joined it, a cacophony of shrieking chilling screams that made the walls tremble. Gwynzer and Samzi did too. The darkness didn’t help, Samzi’s small glowrod wasn’t enough to tell them what was up there. The medic made his mind up and stepped forward, helping Gwynzer roll Ati’s corpse over the edge and they both hurried back to collect their equipment.
“Don’t take anymore than you need,” whispered Gwynzer, “Medpack, blaster and some power packs we may need to act fast and I don’t want to be weighed down.”
Samzi nodded, already packing away what he needed and throwing off anything superfluous. Gwynzer activated another UAV and checked the rest of the equipment available.
“Ok, I’m going to take some detpacks, the frag nades and the Bowcaster. That should give us enough firepower for anything we meet up there.” Gwynzer hefted the heavy Wookie weapon, trying to gauge its weight.
“This should make anything think twice.” He grunted. “You ready?”
Samzi nodded. “Lets get out of here.”
The UAV pinged. Then again, and again. Gwynzer checked the readout, whatever was coming for them was now registering on the sensor but he couldn’t make out exact numbers. A mass of red dots shifted and surged as he studied it and in the confines of the service tower there was no way to distinguish between those coming from above and those climbing to reach them from its dark bowels.
“Start climbing!” he ordered. Samzi didn’t need to be told twice and started at a brisk job at the ramps, Gwynzer hot on his heels. They only cleared the first corner when something pounced, jaws open and salivating. Both men opened fire, a rapid reflex born from instincts honed in combat. The thing tumbled swung from the impacts and dropped over the side. They saw enough of it for Samzi to believe everything Gwynzer had told him. No matter what the UAV scan told them, that thing should have been dead.
“Boss, how many of those things are there?”
Gwynzer shook his head, “Can’t make it out.”
“I hope these power cells hold out,” answered Samzi “theres no way out of this thing except through them.”
“I know,” came the reply, “but I have an idea.”
Gwynzer began rummaging through his kit as another ear splitting scream lunged at them through the darkness. “I’m going to blast a hole in the wall, maybe we can climb over the cliff face.”
“A detpack? In here?” Samzi wasn’t sure about the idea, “We got enough room to get away from it?”
“It’s either that or try and get through those things.”
The crushing steps were closer now and occasionally something else would clatter past them through the central shaft. Pieces of Stormtrooper armour, clothing and even bloody dripping limbs. Gwynzer slammed the explosives hard against a wall, the timer lights flashing an eery green in the closeting blackness.
“Come on,” he said grabbing Samzi, “up two more levels then hit the floor.”
They ran, counting silently in their heads trying to judge the right time to hit the cold metal floor and cover their ears. “Now!” they both cried dropping instantly and throwing their arms over the heads. The blast rocked the walkway and hot fiery air blasted up past them, dieing back as quickly as it passed. Thick smoke still clung to the confines of the heavy chamber and for a moment the brilliant light left them blinded.
They weren’t far off now perhaps two or three levels above them, slurping and grunting towards the two soldiers ears as the ranks of ravaged men advanced. The explosion seemed to excite them and the pace appeared to quicken as another scream challenged the night. Samzi and Gwynzer stood and groping the wall made their way back to check the location of the explosive charge.
A large jagged hole had opened in the side, smoke pulling out and in to the starry sky and through it they could make out the grey craggy face of the cliff.
“Think we can make it?” asked Gwynzer.
“I’d rather try that than go through those cacking monsters.” Samzi answered, already hoisting one leg through and checking a foothold. A blaster shot pinged from the wall and Gwynzer spun to track the source. One of the monsters had reached them ahead of the others and held a pistol in its arm. Its only arm. The other ended in a stump at the elbow, red angry muscle draping from it like ribbons while the remaining bone protruded in sickening contrast.
It raised the pistol and fired again missing widly. Gwynzer raised his bowcaster and aimed, bellowing at Samzi, “GO! NOW! I’ll cover you!”
Samzi continued clambering out, reaching for foot and hand holds as his Squad Leader disappeared from sight behind the towers walls, green light flashing as he opened fire against the former Imperial.
“Samzi, I’m coming through!” Gwynzer backed down the corridor towards the hole, sweeping his weapon up for more of the slavering beasts. His foot caught something soft, giving way temporarily beneath his weight before resisting and rolling off. He glanced down, it was an arm, still wet and sheathed in standard issue Alliance uniform. He spun round in horror but it was too late, he couldn’t bring the bowcaster round in time as Blind lunged for him, fingers scrabbling over his face and groping inside his open mouth. They felt cold and wet, he could taste the blood that coated them and Blind loomed over him, mouth open wide, teeth flared and saliva dripping from them.
The Rebel Squad Leader screamed. A primeval single cry as Blind reached forward and bit down on his shoulder, Gwynzer could feel the teeth sliding through muscle and jarring against the bone. He arched up trying to throw Blind off but it seemed to encourage him to bite harder, twisting his head from side to side in an effort to rip Gwynzers flesh away. His head arched back, he could make out more of them now descending down the ramp, footsteps heavy against the metal walkway as they fell on him, snarling and hungry, arms reaching out and grabbing limbs, pulling joints away from sockets with an agonising pop.
The last thing Samzi saw as he looked back through the hole was Gwynzer’s terrified eyes rolling back in their sockets.
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SWEET! I ate Gwyn!
Nice story up till now, keep it up :P
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SWEET! I ate Gwyn!
Nice story up till now, keep it up :P
Its not meant to be nice! Its meant to be a bit scary! >:(
more to come yet. I'm no even close to finishing :/
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Ok... There were five guys in the outpost: Gwynzer, Blind, Thomas, Samzi, Ati and... Slyfox? That's six if my counting is right. And seeing that I was a cameo or a mistake or an unfinished project, you could delete me from the second post. Doesn't make sense that I disappeared and no one noticed. (I would rather be somewhere in the story, but your choice)
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Yeah someone else pointed that out :P As I said at the time, thats the problem with writing something and firing it straight up. That said, it does state that Gwynzer orders them to move out then five guys walk off, could be Gwynzer watching them mvoe (may edit that piece). I dunno..will have to ponder on my choice.
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well, from what I can see only SamZi should survive, as Gwynzer should now be infected as well.
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I've a Natural Immunity to Death-By-having-flesh-ripped-out-and-throat removed, Evil.
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I've a Natural Immunity to Death-By-having-flesh-ripped-out-and-throat removed, Evil.
h4x...
It sounds like fun!
I'd take the time to make it if it's going to be set up!
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Sorry about the delay. I've made some slight tweaks to the first chapters so you may wish to re-read those.
Chapter 7. Forgotten.
Slyfox waited patiently in the dark. He’d heard the com chatter but largely ignoring, listening only for the order to tell him to return. He forced himself to stay down there in the dark, despite the screams and blaster fire from above. He was a soldier and would obey orders. When the detpack exploded he was thrown from his feet and barely missed falling over the sides. With his head hanging over the edge he could see flashes of white Stormtrooper armour, only a few levels below him now and surging round and round the walkways towards him. He made a decision and got up, running back towards his comrades.
He vaulted over the crates, tripping over something as he hit the other side and sprawling in to the wall hard. Gwynzers flashlight still lay on the floor and its light felt a little reassuring after being alone in the dark for so long. He looked back to see what he’d fallen over, something with no head lay bleeding behind the stacked crates. He couldn’t tell who it had been but recognised the uniform as one of his own. Panicing he forced himself back to his feet and started forward again.
The smell was getting worse, he hadn’t noticed it at first ignoring all his sesnses and listening only to the voice in his head that told him to run. He could hear the noises now too and slowed, letting his blaster lead the way as he carefully backed up the tower, it’s walls providing some form of comfort in the limited protection it might offer.
It was Blind he noticed first, squatting and sniffing the air, yet it wasn’t Blind. Something seemed wrong, unnatural. The ragged group of Imperials didn’t add to the image, of the mass of others that were trying to swarm through a shredded hole in the towers wall. One of the Stormtroopers rose and ran towards the hole, knocking one of his comrades over the side as he went, not even looking back to rescue him. The one that fell made no noise as it flashed past Sly. He stood still, unable to move as his brain tried to piece together the clues and give him some kind of logical explanation.
He noticed it then. Another rebel uniform lay at the bottom of the mass of troops, he watched as Blind ducked down and came back up a moment later, shreds of the material in his mouth glistening wet. Where they eating it? Blind screamed. That chilling shriek that had echoed through the tower and Sly’s eyes snapped up and locked on his former squadmate. No recognition lay behind those eyes up there, only lust and hunger. No, more than hunger… a longing, a desire to…to… eat me?
The thought flashed through Sly’s mind and seemed to fit, made everything make sense even as the other things up there joined in Blinds chorus and tunred to Sly. He carefully thumbed the safety from a frag nade and lightly tossed it forwards. None of them took heed of it, instead rising and turning, mouths gnashing in anticipation of fresh meat.
It erupted with a large thump, searing Sly’s eyes and deafening him. The mass of creatures above disappeared in the erupting fireball, some thrown down the shaft with the force of the explosion. He blinked a few times to try and clear his sight but the red dots refused to go away. With what little vision he had left he stumbled forward up the ramp. He reached the hole in the tower wall and greedily drank in the refreshing night air, filling his lungs and relishing the sensation. As his eyes began to clear he surveyed the towers walkway once more. Blood had been baked a dark brown on the walls by the explosion, though large quantities remained liquid in areas of the floor. Near the corner lay the creatures last meal, a mess of rebel uniform, limp limbs and torn flesh.
He flipped it over, ever aware of the increasing noise behind him as yet more of the creatures clamoured towards him. Gwynzer stared back, eyes vacant, no longer reflecting any evidence of life. A wad of paper poked out from a pocket and Sly grabbed it and stuffed it inside a pocket before turning back towards the jagged tear that beckoned to safety.
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Thanks for posting the other part and rewriting the previous posts! :)
One question though: are you going to be in the story?
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Twigs is the "AI Director", a straight port from Left 4 Dead who chooses where Zombies go and where any weapon pickups are located.
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Chapter 8. Survivors
Krenyo, Impy and Benu looked round the room, surveying the devastation. They had gained access to the upper level of one of the outposts control towers. Datascreens were smashed, panels ripped away leaving the inner workings exposed and disturbingly, blood had dried in many areas.
“Is that stuff safe to touch?” asked Krenyo, looking over to Impy.
“I’m not sure,” he answered shrugging his shoulders, “if it’s dried, maybe the virus got killed off.”
“Ok, Benu, its your call. I want you to try and hack in to one of those terminals, see what you can find.”
The younger member paused for a second, contemplating the possible effects of becoming infected by some obscure disease that may have claimed his other squad mates. Without replying he removed a portable datapad from a pocket and set about trying to interface with the broken equipment.
“If this thing is as bad as Impy says, just shoot me if I start showing any symptoms.”
“I will.” Answered Impy, already pulling his weapon round ready to bear down on Benu, “I told you, once you get infected you’re not the same person anymore. It’s not personal.”
Krenyo gazed out of the outposts window as Benu continued working behind him, lit only by the soft glow of the datapads tiny screen. The two T1-B’s that remained with them had taken advance positions on the road ahead, above loomed the cliffs where the massive sensor dish could just be made out against the night sky. The two tanks were turning their formidable laser turrets from left to right, scanning for approaching Imperials, or whatever else may try to come for them. Something caught his eye and he glanced back towards it. There it was again!
A small light flashed once or twice from far above the cliff tops, Krenyo judged it to be the sensor stations control room. “Impy, these infected, how smart are they?”
“Dunno, didn’t really get told much about them. Someone said they could use weapons though. Why do you ask?”
“I think there’s someone up there, look. Wait, it’s gone.”
“Got it!” exclaimed Ben, rapidly punching more commands in to the pad. “Ok boss, what do you want to know?”
Krenyo crouched down behind him to get a glimpse of the screen, “How many people were here, and see if you can find anything on this disease.”
Benu, entered the information and waited. “Personnel, 250. Doesn’t sound a lot but they probably kept it to engineers, commanders and a guard contingent until it came online. I’ll try and access sick bay records.”
“Boss, we ain’t alone.” Interrupted Impy, pointing to another terminal, “Someone wants to say hi.”
Krenyo looked over and paused, “Infected?”
Impy shook his head, “They don’t talk, not in any way we’d understand anyway. They just do that howling thing and grunt, maybe it’s some way of communicating but I never heard anything about them using a com system.”
“Benu, can you get it working?”
“Sure, just need to transfer the network paths. That should do it.” He pressed a button and the pads tiny speaker squawked.
“….requesting assistance, is anyone there?”
“Who is this?” Krenyo asked.
“Commander Tarketh, we’re trapped here and need immediate evacuation by air. We explicitly said ground forces should not be sent in our emergency communiqué.”
“Well Commander, we didn’t receive any communication from you. My name is Krenyo, I am a member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and I’m here to destroy your sensor dish.”
“Very well,” came the reply drily, “I have no interest in any kind of conflict with you Krenyo. Let me explain briefly what has happened here. There are eight of us trapped at the control room on top of the facility. Everyone else here has been affected by a disease, one that you really do not wish to experience. We have sent requests for help but have no way to know if they have been received. I would appreciate it if you could rescue us. Now.”
The three rebels looked at one another, although expecting something like this it still came as a shock to hear the Imperial asking for their assistance.
“Commander, what can you tell us about this disease?” asked Krenyo, seizing the opportunity to get as much information as possible.
“You have already accessed our computers, look for Blackwing. That is the name of the virus. I should warn you gentlemen, there really is not much time. Return to your ships and pick us up.”
Krenyo shook his head as he addressed the com again, “I can’t do that Tarketh, this could still be a trap. We have some T1-B’s here and we’ll use those to secure the compound before getting you out.”
Tarketh cursed at him down the com before resuming the conversation, “You don’t have long and this is no trap. At least, not on our part, I can’t speak for them.”
“Krenyo, I got it.” Said Benu, holding up a second data pad, “everything they have on this Blackwing virus.”
The Rebel leader nodded and turned back to his com channel, “Ok Tarketh, we have your information and we’ll be there shortly.”
Without waiting for a reply he powered down the unit and tossed it back to Benu. “Ok, hand me the Blackwing stuff, we can read it on the way up. Impy, you still ok?”
“Yeah, sure thing boss.” He answered, though still not sounding himself, “Lets just get this one over with and get off this rock.”
One of the T1-B’s opened fire, quickly followed by the other. The sound of the two twin barrelled laser turrets echoed off the cliffs, deafening the three men in the turret. Ben had to shout to make himself heard, “WHAT IS IT?”
Impy shook his head and ran to the window, the flashes of red light from the tanks lit the area up like a flash of lightening. Scores of them streamed towards their position from over the cliffs and a nearby cave. Some wore pieces of Stormtrooper armour, others the uniform of imperial officers. Imperial knew immediately what they were and merely pointed at them. Benu and Krenyo joined him by the window and gazed in astonishment.
Laser bolts tore through bodies, gouging out flesh, tearing away limbs and sending the unlucky victim hurtling backwards, yet time and again they picked themselves up and moved on. Some pulled themselves forward using their arms, legs torn away or twisted in some grotesque manner. Despite their firepower, the T1-Bs were forced to move backwards to stop the creatures reaching them. The lead tank lowered its rocket pod and fired a salvo, clearing a swathe through the creatures. The triple explosion hurled bodies through the air and sent shrapnel tearing through others, cutting them down in their relentless push.
The haunting, spine tingling scream echoed from the cliffs once more. The rebels watched as the former Imperials before them joined in, before turning and moving back towards the station.
“They’re going to wait for us.” said Imperial. “They’ll wait up there until we can’t use the tanks then attack.”
“Krenyo, maybe we should bring the Gallofree’s up,” said Ben, “do like that Imp officer said and go for an aerial rescue.”
The squad leader shook his head and looked down, “That would leave that sensor dish still up. The mission still needs to be completed.”
“It isn’t a sensor station.” answered Benu, “The dish doesn’t work, its just a cover. They’ve been working with this Blackwing virus since day one. Read the files, it’s all in there.”
Krenyo flicked on the datapad Benu had given him earlier. The tiny screen flickered on and bathed their faces in a pale gloomy blue as the three men leaned forward towards it.
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Chapter 9. Blackwing
Chief Medical Officer Timkalou, ISD Vector.
Imperial bioweapons Project I71A – Blackwing
Initial studies carried out on Meglumine show positive results. Transfer of the materials has now been ordered by Lord Vader to Khonji Seven via the ISD Vector. Studies will continue whilst aboard and a lab has been made available for our use.
Symptoms
Initial symptoms for those affected by airborne spores bare similar resemblance to many naturally occurring diseases. The most obvious is a deep persistant cough. Further onset of the disease results in the breakdown of tissue within the internal organs. Notably, the lungs will begin bleeding profusely. Death occurs in 100% of all cases.
Secondary symptoms.
Following medical death, the disease begins to mutate within the muscular tissue. Subjects re-animate within the hour. Eye’s are typically reddened, and skin pallor is similar to that of rotten flesh (among human subjects). No intelligence detected or vocal communication. Sounds limited to grunts and a repeated scream. Subjects exhibit a strong desire to consume the flesh of other living creatures, transmission of the disease through the saliva glands noted.
Immunisation
No current inoculation has been successfully developed. Extreme care should be taken when distributing the virus to prevent contamination within Imperial ranks. Area’s infected should be isolated from other populous regions. Natural immunity has been observed.
History
History of the virus is unknown, being first brought to our attention by the Lord Vader, it is not unfeasible to suggest that it was at some point in the past used as a Sith weapon. Imperial study of the original virus showed inherent weaknesses in its original form, and mutation and genetic manipulation resulted in it’s current form. Highly contagious in both airborne spores and by infection through bodily fluids of those carrying the virus, safety is of the utmost importance when working with the material.
The first carrier of the disease is unknown to us by name, but studies confirm it to be human. A pair of lungs replete with vocal chords was brought to us from Lord Vader’s personal guards. The lungs continued to function despite having no visible means of preservation. Colour would indicate them to be dead tissue but in fact the opposite was true. The lungs functioned enough to be able to provide an aural response in the form of an inhuman screaming.
The lungs appeared to have some fluid in them, a sample was taken and shown to carry a disease, termed A71A. A rebel prisoner was injected with the fluid and studied. Following clinical death within 25 hours he was taken for examination through autopsy. Only medical droids were allowed in the room for the duration of the autopsy to reduce the risk of infection to our own staff. Upon opening the chest cavity, the subject began to exhibit signs of life, the man displayed tremendous signs of strength, destroying two medical droids, despite the open chest wound. Destruction was the only way to secure the safety of the staff. Although pre-warned on the effects of the virus we were still surprised at its effects.
Encouraged by the results, we undertook the task of improving the virus’s capabilities. We reduced the infection time and increased it’s contagious abilities. The results were termed Blackwing.
Personal notes
Should not be underestimated, by increasing the contagion we inadvertently introduced a desire for the transformed creatures to feed on living tissue. Although this will transmit the disease via the creatures bite, the verocity of their appetite is overwhelming. The creatures do possess some intelligence, or at least the ability to learn and adapt. The remains of the first carrier are the key, it somehow communicates with the others, its children almost. It senses what they sense, tells them what it wants. We have cloned it successfully, giving us the ability to take the disease where we wish. We have infected it with the engineered virus, and as hoped it mutated the original form. Now we are able to take the virus directly from the source, almost like farming. It is a tremendous site, to see those pairs of lungs breathing with no other organs maintaining them. Tubes attached to the lungs siphon off the virus to collector tanks, ready for distribution to those worlds harbouring Rebel cells. We now have three of these creatures that we are able to extract the virus from. We will continue to improve the virus, perhaps even find a way to control it ourselves and enslave those infected.
Work will continue as we journey to our next destination. The disease shows remarkable resilience to any form of drug and has successfully been tested across a variety of sentient species. I am confident that we will be able to reduce even further the amount of time required to reach the final stage of the disease.
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Thanks you so much for the new posts! ;D
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Chapter 10. Trapped.
Krenyo whistled, startling his two companions. “Ok, so it’s some kind of engineered virus. Nothing there that says this place was a cover for working on it.”
“That’s only the first file,” said Benu, quickly scrolling to the next one in the pad, “that officer died on board the Vector. When the team went on they pulled all the data they could find. Someone figured his notes may have been copied and so they changed the final destination.”
“Sorry to break this up,” interrupted Impy, “but we need to get moving. Make a choice boss, you want to get those imps out or just pull back?”
“We have to go up.” Benu said it quickly, adding his opinion before Krenyo could give any further orders, “we need to find the Black Intel guys.”
“Ben,” Krenyo placed a hand on his shoulder and softened his voice, “you’ve read the file, I don’t think they’re alive anymore.”
Benu shook Krenyo off and strode towards the ladder that led to the ground floor, “I’m going up there to find out.”
“Cack it, I’m with you Ben.” Impy shouldered his weapon and followed Benu out leaving Krenyo to watch them. He sighed, pocketed the data pad and caught them up. The three men moved up the dirt road to the top of the mountain and the plateau that held the sensor station. The two T1-B’s crept along with them, their powerful turrets constantly looking for anything that could threaten the safety of the group.
No-one noticed the figures that lined the tops of the cliffs towering above them. None of them paid any attention to the noise as small stones skittered down the sides occasionally. Suddenly a thundering, crashing thunder echoed from the cliff walls, Impy pushed Krenyo and Ben to the floor as a small avalanche rushed towards them. The three of them covered their heads, unable to do much more than wait for the crushing agonising death caused by tons of falling rock. The tanks were too slow to react, one was swept away completely by the falling rocks, their weight pushing it over the side of the cliff that fell away to the left hand side. The other was crushed beneath the falling rocks, the shriek of metal protesting against the overwhelming force of gravity indicated that the men inside would not survive.
Krenyo rose first, coughing and rubbing his eyes as clouds of dust hung in the air, a few stones still rolled down the mountain side and he looked up warily. Through the dust and the dark night sky he could make out a few figures against the backdrop of the Imperial station. They screamed at him before moving away from the edge and out of Krenyo’s vision.
“Ok guys,” he said, as Ben and Imp also rose from the ground, “now we’re alone, and those things are a cacking sight more intelligent than that report says.”
Impy shook his head, “That’s impossible, you think they caused this?”
The determined officer nodded, “I’m sure of it. This was planned, they weren’t going for us, just taking the T1-B’s out.” He looked back towards them, anger flashing in his eyes. “Whatever those cacking Imps did here killed too many of my men. I’m taking some of them with me.”
Benu’s heart sunk. He had no choice now but to go up there and deal with the men infected by the Imperials virus. Were they even men now? What if some of those things up there were his old friends? Could he kill them? Would Impy and Kreny kill him if he got infected too? He coughed, his pals quickly turning towards him, weapons already raised.
“Woah! Woah!” He stammered, “it’s the dust, I swear it’s just the dust.”
“Sorry buddy,” Impy said, lowering the barrel, “just a bit jumpy now. Whatever happens, we take as many as we can. Go for the head and if you get bitten, shoot yourself. If you can’t do that then we need to be prepared to raise a gun on each other, even if we show now signs, ok?”
They all agreed and steadily began making their way upwards through the night. Clouds rolled in once more obscuring the moon and stars and as they walked, each of them couldn’t but shiver at the thought of what might await them.
Slyfox reached up and grabbed a handhold before hauling himself on to a small ledge on the cliff. He almost fell backwards when something grabbed hold of his collar and pulled him up. “Samzi!” He gasped, shocked to see one of pals there.
“You alright?” asked the medic, already checking him over with practiced ease.
“As good as I can be. What happened in there? What are those things?”
Samzi shook his head, looking over to the tower that loomed over them. “I don’t know. Not human, not anymore at least. It’s something that, sounds unbelieveable, it brings the dead to life.”
Sly looked at him, nodding as if it made sense, “They were eating Gwynzer.”
“What do we do now?” Samzi ignored it, not wanting to picture the death of his friend.
“Up or down I guess,” answered Sly, “I want to avoid those things though. Can we contact the other group.”
“No, no coms on me. Hey look.” Samzi pointed as the lights of Krenyo’s rear party shone through the undergrowth far below and headed towards the landing point. “We’ll head down towards them. Maybe it’s a retreat.”
Slyfox peared over the edge and looked down at the Imperial landing position at the base of the tower. “Er..down there? What if more of those things are there?”
Samzi thought it over and nodded, “Yeah, lets keep clear of that. We’ll contour round the cliffs and then drop down to the LZ. Think you can manage it?”
Slyfox grinned, “Eaten by Imperials or falling off a cliff. Shame I didn’t pack my parachute.”
The men laughed and started out, reaching for hand and foot holds. The cliff walls were made of granite and easily bore their weight, rarely crumbling under their touch. A sudden blinding flash struck the wall near Sly, his left hand slipped and his body swung to the right, his right arm bearing all the weight. His vision blurred and spasms erupted through his muscles as electricity coursed through them.
“Samzi..” He croaked the words out, unable to control his body and hoping his only contact with the cliff wouldn’t give out on him. Another flash struck the side, further away this time. The medic was beside him in a flash, pushing Sly back against the wall as the spasms disippated allowing him to hug the face again.
“What the cack?” he gasped, sucking air greedily as his muscles began to relax.
“They’re shooting at us. DEMP’s. We need to move fast.” They began clawing their way round as more of the dangerous electromagnetic pulses splashed against the mountain.
“Quicker Sly!” urged Samzi, as the bolts erupted closer and closer. A lone Imperial was taking aim at them from the hole they had made in the tower. His expression mindless and uncaring as he tried to send them tumbling to their death. Another blue bolt fizzled towards them as Samzi rounded the edge that beckoned to take them out of sight. He heard the bolt fizz and turned his head away from the bright energy pulses that ringed out as it struck. He heard Sly cry out and peeked round the rocky outcrop.
Slyfox was falling away, paralysed by the high energy pulse, arms and legs outstretched, his eyes closed. He struck another plateau with a sickening thud and remained still. Samzi hastened towards him, jeopardising his own safety he careened down the cliff face using his arms and feet to slow his descent. Stones and shingle knocked loose and cascaded before him, bouncing down the sides and clattering around Slyfox. The medic struck the small ledge hard, his ankle buckling and sending shooting pains up through his leg. He ignored it, quickly checking his friends vitals and pulling pieces of equipment from his pack. A scream echoed out from the Imperial service tower. “Your next.” It seemed to say. “You’re going to die.”
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Chapter 11. Watching.
The Imperial facility spread out before them on the flat top of the mountain. Even in the darkness, the white walls of the buildings seemed to shine, laid out with typical Imperial efficiency. Other than the occasional scream from the creatures that now seemed to control it, the area was shrouded in deadly silence. Each step the men took sounded like thunder, no matter how softly they tried to tread. A hangar door yawned at the base of the main complex, beckoning them towards an area so black that none dared to guess what lay within. Various small outer buildings and stacks of creates and supplies seemed to provide safe concealment in which they could hide as they advanced, but the men remained in the open. Somewhere up here, the creatures lay in wait. More intelligent than the files suggested, they had baited them with a trap and all the rebels could do was hope to survive.
“Look,” whispered Krenyo, “up there, the survivors.” He gestured towards the small light at the highest peak of the complex. “Wonder how we get up.”
“Not through there anyway.” Answered Impy loudly, pointing at the open hangar doors. “Did we get a layout while we were in the computer?”
“Er..no.” Ben said awkwardly, “didn’t think of that.”
“Well, there’s another guard tower there, lets take a look.” Krenyo nodded towards the grey structure not far from their position. Cautiously they stepped towards it, weapons ever ready and constantly looking behind them. They reached the base without incident and looked nervously at the ladder that ascended to the top.
“Who’s first?” Impy said cheerily.
“How about you Mr Happy?” Benu didn’t know if Impy was actually enjoying this or was just trying to keep their spirits up. Whichever it was, the former stormtrooper merely shrugged and secured his weapon around his shoulder.
“Come out come out wherever you are!” he shouted up, before laughing and tossing something in his hands. “Well, if they are up there this should give me a couple seconds.” He pulled the pin on the EMP grenade and threw it lightly up the ladder, watching it bounce easily from the ceiling of the top room before dropping to the floor. Impy was already halfway up the ladder when the energy pulse burst out. Benu and Krenyo quickly followed, ready to fire on whatever lay in wait.
“Nothing.” Krenyo said it for them as they looked round the empty space. It was almost a replica of the outpost building they had checked earlier at the mountain pass. Again, the consoles lay broken. Chairs lay upturned and blood betrayed the violence that had taken place. Benu shivered at the thought of the poor men in here being ripped apart by their former comrades.
“Boss, they know where we’re going.” Impy was gazing out of the window at the only light in the facility. “They’re going to wait until we’re no longer able to retreat.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Silence descended again as they thought of the challenge ahead. Benu tapped away with his kit, trying to connect to the central computer once more. It didn’t take long to find a layout of the area and he beckoned Krenyo over to look.
“We’re here,” he said, pointing on the screen, “main facility is there. Not really much to it, main hangar, some small cross corridors and a couple rooms here and there. Most of the barracks are in the out buildings round back.”
“How do we get up there?” asked the Officer.
“Four ways. There are two staircases inside leading off from the hangar.”
“Forget that,” interrupted Impy, “I am not going in there.”
“Well, theres a small corridor with a ladder leading to an upper level, that opens out to the roof of that corridor and theres another ladder to the top.”
“Slightly more promising,” grunted Impy again, “anything else?”
“Yeah, single ladder round the back that leads all the way up from the ground.” Benu finished showing them the schematics and leaned back, “So, which one is it?”
Krenyo tapped a finger against his lip for a few seconds, mulling it over. “Can we get coms up there? Find out what they know?”
Benu shook his head. “Completely trashed. I think they took out the central server for those systems and I can’t relay the signal anymore.”
“Ok. Well, whichever route we choose we either have to go inside or pass a couple entrances right?” Krenyo looked at them and paused, “My vote is going for that external ladder.”
“Yeah,” nodded Impy enthusiastically, “I’m all for that. Let’s not go inside where they want us.”
“Won’t we be a little exposed on there?” asked Ben nervously, “If we go through the hangar we might be able to use the walker.”
“What walker?” Kreny and Impy chorused together surprised by the new information.
“There’s supposed to be a walker and a Firehawke in there according to the computer.” Answered Benu, a little happier now he was dealing with solid facts and not discussing the best way to avoid death. “Maybe they’re still functioning, we could grab one of them and use it.”
Krenyo laughed then quickly stopped when Benu frowned at him. “Sorry Ben, it’s a nice idea and all, but look around you. What do you think the chances are of those things working? Even if they do, we can’t get them up there.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ben sat back glumly, “Ok, rear ladder it is then.”
“Quick drink and a protein bar then we’ll go.” Impy stood up and stretched. “Those things waited this long for us, another few minutes won’t hurt. Oh, by the way boss, they know we’re here.”
“What makes you say that?” asked Krenyo standing up and joining Impy by the window. The ex-stromtrooper merely pointed towards the hangar. The ATST stood in the doorway, its head pointed towards them waiting patiently like an expectant predator.
“Well Ben, guess that walker works after all.”
-
HA! Love the part where that DEMP2 gets us! :D
So that little fight DID inspire you.
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Chapter 12. Descent
Slyfox opened his eyes with a gasp, a deep burning sensation in his chest felt like a a vibroknife had been thrust in. The pain passed and he sagged back against the rocky floor, trying to roll on to his side. A heavy hand pushed him back down, “Easy buddy,” said Samzi, “just sit tight.”
Sly closed his eyes and let the medic carry out his work, trying to ignore the screaming voice of his body as various parts protested. The cold rock felt cool on his back and helped a little and the night air brushed across his faces, cold fingers that helped calm him a little. He wasn’t sure what had happened, the last thing he remembered was something blue flashing around him. “DEMP pulse.” He thought, “no wonder I feel like a bantha sat on me.”
“How you feeling Sly?” Samzi asked him, wrapping another bandage round his arm.
“Like Vaders punchbag.” He answered, opening one eye and looking at his partner. He propped himself up on an elbow and tried to shuffle up to a more comfortable position. “DEMP?”
“Yeah, right on the left side. Left some superficial burns, nothing a bacta patch won’t fix. You fell a fair distance though, that DEMP probably did you a favour.”
“How’d you work that one out?” He groaned, “Doesn’t feel like it did anything for me.”
“I’d say the DEMP probably stopped your heart and any brain stimulus. Your body relaxed when you dropped so it absorbed the shock pretty well when you hit the floor. If you’d been conscious you probably would have tensed up waiting for the impact, definitely would have broken some bones.” The medic said it matter-of-factly, as if there had been no real danger. Sly didn’t think having his heart stop beating was a good thing.
“Dead huh? Good thing that defib works.”
Samzi grinned, “Actually it was, some of those bolts got pretty close to me too. A lot of my kit received enough splash radiation to cack them up. Lucky you huh?”
Sly lay back again and closed his eyes, “Now I wish you hadn’t told me that. So, what’s next?”
The medic finished packing away his med kit and sat back, leaning against a convenient rocky outcrop. He pulled a bottle from another pocket and took a long sip of water before speaking.
“Well, you’ve no broken bones and only a couple of surface wounds. Can’t see any internal bleeding, but without the scans it’s a bit harder to detect. Main worry will be concussion.”
“So what, we sit here and wait to see if more of those Imp things come after us?”
Samzi shook his head, “Too risky, we’re a little exposed out here. We’ll have to keep trying to traverse back to the LZ. Sit yourself up, see how you feel.”
Slyfox did as he was told, gingerly pulling himself up so he was sitting facing Samzi. His back felt a little tight but that was only to be expected after the fall. It was bound to be one massive bruise by the end of the night.
“Feel’s ok,” he said after a brief pause, mentally running through a checklist of how his body might respond, “want to go for it?”
Twisting the lid back on his bottle before placing it carefully back inside his pocket, Samzi shook his head. “Stand up first, I’ll give you a hand, just hold tight and trust me ok? You might be a little dizzy at first, if it gets worse or you start blacking out I got you.”
Samzi stood first, then reached out a hand and helped Sly to his feet. He felt fine to start with, then it hit him, hard. His vision went black around the edges and bright lights popped and danced. The dizziness hit with all the ferocity of an enraged Wampa, almost smashing him to his feet. He gripped tightly to Samzi who held him firm as his knees began to buckle, but he forced himself to stay on his feet, fighting the urge to sag back to the floor. It began to pass, the lights fading first then the black edges to his vision began to retreat. The dizziness faded too, gradually at first, until finally he was able to relax his grip on the man who had risked his life to save him.
“Thanks.” It wasn’t much, but both men knew it meant more than that, an unspoken bond that grows between men who have saved each others lives countless times.
“You good to go now?” asked Samzi, taking Sly by the shoulders and checking his eyes for further signs of shock or concussion.
“No, I’m good.”
“Ok, we’ll stick with the cliffs for now then drop down closer to the LZ. Theres a natural path here, just stick close to the rock face and if you feel yourself going lean back against it.”
Slyfox nodded then thought of something, “How about we tie off together? That way if I fall you can grab me, or maybe you’ll fall first.” He grinned at that last bit, thinking how ironic it would be if Samzi fell first.
“Nah,” he replied, shaking his head, “Works in a group, but with only two of us we’re more likely to drag the other one down. Come on, its not that steep here anyway.”
They set off quickly, picking their way over the trail as it snuck around the high vertical cliff walls. It was hard going in the darkness and inevitably one or both of them would trip on some unseen obstacle. Once or twice they imagined something up ahead, some creature out to catch them as rocky features and large outcrops took on strange shapes in the darkness and made progress slow. The irregular howling of the things from the tower didn’t help either, and Samzi even thought he saw one of the creatures far below them.
The lights from the T1-B’s that had returned earlier got closer and closer and eventually the two men reached a point at which they could descend down to the landing zone. They stopped to catch a breath and slapped each other on the back, pleased to be so close to getting off this wretched rock. Slyfox removed his water bottle and took a long drink and then passed it to Samzi who eagerly lifted it to his mouth. While his companion drank Slyfox surveyed the ground below them.
The T1-B’s were parked in front of the middle of the three Gallofree transport ships. He could here their engines, and the lights indicated that the power was running on them, but they gave an air of abandonment. He frowned, at least one of them should have been patrolling, or using the turret to look for approaching enemy. He shrugged it off, probably nothing. This close to the transports they’d more likely be relying on the ships sensors to warn of approaching danger.
Samzi handed back the empty bottle, “Let’s do it then!” he said cheerily before launching himself once again down a sheer cliff face. As before, he used his hands and feet to slow his descent and Slyfox marvelled at the medic’s bravado. Shrugging he did the same, even pausing to shout “WHEEE!”.
Samzi hit the grassy ground easily, absorbing the shock through his knees and landing in a crouching position like a jungle feline. Slyfox followed a few seconds later but without the same dexterity, stumbling a few steps before taking a comical face flop to the ground. Samzi chuckled and stepped forward to help him up.
“Not having much luck with falling tonight are you?”
Sly spat a few pieces of dried grass and brushed himself off, “Yeah well, I still look good.” They laughed again and looked at the welcome sight of the landed transports.
“After you..” Samzi started when a chorus of screams cut him off. They attacked from the transports, rushing towards them and snarling, mere shadows in the lights of the T1-B’s. Samzi reached for his blaster and hit air, he looked down. His holster wis empty, in the edges of his vision he caught it a few feet away near the foot of the cliffs.
“Cover me!” he shouted, running back to get it as Slyfox dropped to one knee with easy practice. Despite his earlier injuries, adrenaline took over and the years of training and experience guided him as he took shot after shot at the oncoming mass. Dropping one hand he unhooked a fragmentation grenade and threw it forward, ahead of the creatures. They stopped. One of them put its head back and screamed before looking directly at him. He put a shot right between its eyes just as the grenade went off.
The creatures moved forward again and Samzi dropped back beside Slyfox. The two men fired more shots in to the crowd dropping more of them. As they grew closer they could make out more details. Rebel uniforms were dotted among the Stormtrooper outfits and almost all of them had some manner of grotesque injury. Something sounded in the distance, an angry roar that seemed to grow louder as the lights grew stronger. A T1-B burst through the mass of feral creatures sending them tumbling in to one another. Three or four got caught beneath the hover tanks anti grav and were dragged along beneath it. The ground quickly shred skin from bone, ripping away limbs until finally they were pulled free.
Slyfox and Samzi could do nothing but watch as the vehicle rushed towards them and both men closed their eyes waiting for the inevitable impact. A wall of air hit them first, pushed forward by the tanks energy, then it stopped, mere feet away from them. Samzi opened one eye and watched as the tank spun round back towards the Gallos. The rear hatch popped open and a voice shouted at them.
“Well get in then!”
The two men didn’t wait to be told again and threw themselves into the cramped compartment, quickly securing the hatch behind them.
“Right then,” said the voice, “there we go, they lined themselves up again, I like this game! CHARGE!!”
The tank surged forward pushing Samzi and Sly back against the internal bulkhead and a few seconds later they heard the impacts of something against the hull. The driver laughed manically and swung the tank round for another go.
“Now this I could get used to! By the way lads, names Duke.”
Samzi groaned and closed his eyes as he sagged backwards. Sly looked at him, “know him?”
The medic just nodded, then tapped a finger against his temple before making a circular motion. “Mad.”
-
;D Read what I posted at fsmod.
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No? what did you post?
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Sweet, the Duke part made had me laughing lots :P
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I posted how much I like his stories, but it gets tiresome posting on both websites.
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How is copy pasting text tiresome, you have to click maybe 6 times...
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Chapter 13. Return
Imperial and Krenyo stared back at the walker, it’s black souless eyes looking towards them expectantly. Benu rose and stepped towards them, shoving pieces of equipment back in his pockets.
“What do we do?” he asked flatly.
“Well, we stay here we die. We go down there we die. Either way, we’re dead. It’s just a matter of where and how many of them we take out with us.” Imperial said it matter of factly, no hint of fear evident in his voice.
“Let’s head back down,” said Krenyo, “I’d rather face the walkers blasters then get bitten by those things.”
“Yeah, but where are they?” Benu’s question hung over them for a few seconds. Silently the men ignored it and headed towards the ladder.
Once on the ground, the three men could hear the hum of the walkers engines, yet it made no move towards them and its weapons remained silent.
“What’s the story Imperial?” asked Krenyo, barely more than a whisper.
“No idea. Looks like it just wants us to stay out of the garage.”
Another scream echoed round them, bouncing back from the facilities walls. There was a smell up here, death and decay hung in the air. They were close.
“Cack it,” said Benu, rising to his feet, “I’m moving round.” The three of them moved cautiously towards the walls of the main building, scanning for the creatures and keeping an eye on the ATST. It made no move towards them, just turned its head to watch them as they first reached the wall, then backed round a corner out of sight.
After a few minutes progress they reached the rear of the sensor station without incident. There was only a small stretch of wall between them and the ladder to the top of the roof, a stretch of wall that contained a doorway leading to the main hangar.
“Ok, Ben first, then me then Imp,” Krenyo gave the order quickly, the three crouched down in a more stable firing position with weapons at the ready. The other two men nodded then Benu stood and ran silently to the ladder, not stopping to glance towards the doorway.
“GO!” He shouted as he reached the ladder and jumped up, grabbing the rungs and hauling himself up as quickly as he could. Another of the creatures screams pierced the night as something hit the ladder a few feet before him.
“GO!” Shouted Krenyo from below. Benu pulled himself up the ladder faster, trying to give the two men following him more room to climb up. Another heavy thud against the ladder told him that Imperial had made it past the door as well. This was the most dangerous part of journey, climbing the ladder they had to shoulder their weapons, they were exposed and defenceless.
Another scream, but it wasn’t the piercing shriek the undead creatures made, this was a human scream. Benu didn’t look down, he just kept climbing, one hand after another, feet banging hard against the heavy rungs.
“They’re on us!” shouted Krenyo, he half turned on the ladder as he looked down, with one arm hooked behind the ladder he twisted away from the wall, using his free hand to reach for his weapon. Imperial was struggling below him, one of the creatures had reached up and grabbed his leg, biting hard in to it. It wore a rebel uniform, soaked in blood. More of them were assembling around the foot of the ladder, reaching up over each other to grab at Imperial.
Krenyo tried to aim at them, Imperial stared up at him trying to pull himself free.
“Do it!” He shouted at him, “Cacking shoot me!” There was real fear in his eyes now, as more of them bit into his legs, pain streaking across his eyes. Something bounced past Krenyo and he looked up as Benu shouted down.
“CLIMB!”
The explosion rocked the air and the blast wave pushed Krenyo hard against the ladder. The two men pushed themselves faster up the ladder as more of the creatures appeared below them and howled. The base of the ladder had been destroyed by the blast preventing them from chasing their prey.
As he rounded the top, Krenyo saw Benu sobbing against the side of the control room wall. He walked over and knelt in front of him, “Ben..”
“It was Gwynzer. It was Gwynzer that attacked Imperial. They’re all dead”
Krenyo reached forward and smacked him across the face hard.
“Save the cacking pity,” he snapped, “you’re not the only one that lost friends tonight. I have too, but I haven’t got time to babysit you. Get on your feet and get inside.” He stood and walked towards the door, leaving Benu gazing after him in shock.
Krenyo banged on the locked door as another scream echoed up towards them, he knew there were other ways up to the roof and he didn’t intend to be caught outside when the creatures got here. “Hey, let us in!” he shouted, “We made it.”
Benu joined him as the door opened and the two men stepped inside. A small array of consoles lay in the center of the room and the five Imperial soldiers were sat around them.
“Well done,” said one of them standing up, “I am Commander Tarketh, which of you is the Rebel leader?”
“I am,” answered Krenyo stepping forward, blaster raised.
“There is no need for that, I assure you. Lower your weapons men.” The Imperial Officer gestured to his small group to lower their weapons, which they dutifully did.
Benu and Krenyo did the same, yet still maintained some distance from the Imperial troops. The room was heavy with the musk of men who hadn’t washed in days. A small stack of supplies lay in one corner, evidently the Imperials had enough warning to prepare for whatever had happened here.
“How long have you been here?” asked Krenyo, eyeing Tarketh suspiciously.
“10 days.” Tarketh glanced at one of the consoles then looked back towards Krenyo. “You want to know what happened, I understand that. I’ll tell you all I know, we have time. The creatures have retreated back to the hangar, no doubt they will be waiting for instruction before attacking.”
Benu frowned, “Instruction from what? Or who?”
Tarketh grinned, cold and menacing. “Their queen of course. There are some supplies there, please, have something to eat and I shall tell you everything.”
-
Chapter 14. Mutate
“The Blackwing file I directed you to was only a small part of the full research project. Follwing the incident on board the Vector, a cleanup team was dispatched to destroy the evidence, but first a sample was stored for later examination. Work on the disease continued here, at first we weren’t aware of the importance of the living organs that were first brought to the Empires attention. The lungs acted as some kind of controlling force. The infected creatures operate under a hive mind, but the information must be processed somewhere. Somehow the lungs were able to accomplish that task.
Without that, we were unable to achieve any success away from the Vecor. Lord Vader himself expressed his displeasure at losing the source of the infection. One of scientists hit upon a novel way of addressing this and it proved to be key to making the disease work in our favour. Well, so we thought.
In order to create the central hive mind our scientists took a subject, a human subject of course, and infected him with the disease. With no hive mind however, the creature was completely docile. We removed the heart, lungs, spinal cord and brain, our scientists believed that by keeping the brain intact it would grant the creature’s added intelligence. They were correct of course, but more importantly, they were able to begin re-producing the virus. By removing the creatures body it was sent in to some kind of emotional state which heightened it’s appetite and caused the virus to begin reproducing in vast quantities allowing us to farm it.
Naturally, we mutated the virus again, hoping to capitalise on this increased intelligence. To begin with, the creatures we began to produce showed some promise. Controlled by the hive mind they were able to follow some basic commands. We merely had to stimulate the controlling mind with images of what we wished to have the creatures attack. It worked wonderfully! We were amazed at how easy it had been, but we grew too confident. We began to hook the controlling mind to more and more computers, aiming to give it more information and inputs in order to command our new army. We hadn’t counted on it retaining any knowledge of the original human occupant.
The subject had been a rebel spy, caught and allegedly imprisoned. His role within your organisation had been as a slicer, somehow even as an infected dead creature, that knowledge was retained. At first we thought it was all part of the process, as the hive mind began to assimilate more information we saw traces of its influence throughout our systems. Security cam feeds were directed through it, databanks opened up, environmental controls. We just saw it as an exciting new way of waging war. Star Destroyers controlled by organic brains that would also direct armies of our creatures and assimilate traitors and rebels.
Evidently our subject didn’t agree with our work, maybe it even retained some hatred towards us. One night, it opened the cells to the creatures, allowing them to roam through the station. Our personnel were locked in their rooms until the creatures were able to fall on them as they progressed through the station. The controlling hive mind was able to give them almost instant knowledge to utilise or sabotage our equipment.
A small group of us managed to get up here, but the controlling mind has managed to lock us out of our systems. We break in only to have our access removed within minutes. We’ve been able to isolate ourselves here by removing the door controls and hooking up some datapads. The generator over there has been able to keep them powered for the time being. Surprisingly, the creatures have not decided to attack this part of the tower. Perhaps they are waiting for us to starve to death, or just don’t see us as a threat.”
“Do you have no way to destroy them?” Krenyo asked, stunned by what he had heard. There were rumours of Imperial experiments on live prisoners, but he had always dismissed them.
“No. We were to succeed or die trying. Apparently we managed to achieve both of those orders.”
“So what are they waiting for?” Benu spoke up as he rubbed his forehead trying to make the information sink in.
“Ships. They need ships to get off planet and spread the disease.”
The rebel soldiers looked at each other and in unison said, “Our transports.”
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Chapter 15. Airborne
Slyfox mounted the T1-B turret gun and sent blast after blast in to the remaining creatures that milled around the Gallofree’s. Duke continued to cackle and chase splinter groups down, tearing them apart under the hover tanks anti-grav field. If didn’t matter if the creatures wore rebel or Imperial uniforms, they were now the enemy and no-one felt any guilt at dispatching them. A distant howl could be heard faintly over the tanks engines, seemingly summoning the creatures back. Those that could were already skulking away from the landing area, sinking silently in to the shadows of the dark landscape.
“So whats next?” called back Duke, gunning the engine forward to catch a straggler, grunting at the satisfying thud against the T1-B’s hull.
“Head for the transports, we need to get airborne and off planet.” Samzi shouted, “We’ll make a break while those things are re-grouping.”
“Ok,” answered Duke, swinging the tank round in a sharp turn that forced everyone hard against their seats, “who goes first? Last time we tried to board they were waiting.”
“Pull up alongside the entrance, I’ll cover you from here.” Slyfox already had the turret sights trained on the jump door on the side of the first transport. The tank came to a stop cautiously alongside the grey hull and Samzi and Duke exited. Duke patted his flechette fondly and looked at Samzi.
“I’ll go first.”
Before the medic could reply Duke ran up and into the jump door, a few flashes and dull thumps indicated that he was firing the flechette ahead of him as he ran. Samzi looked up at the turret towards Slyfox and shook his head, then wearily headed towards the door. The lights inside suddenly illuminated and he jumped back, raising his weapon and dropping to one knee to give Slyfox a better line of sight. Duke appeared at the door and grinned, raising one hand.
“Easy lads! Only me! She’s empty. They been in here alright, plenty of blood and guts around but no bodies are anything now.”
Samzi lowered his weapon and stood back up. “You idiot, you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Meh,” shrugged the reckless soldier, “those things are stupid. I can take em.”
Slyfox left the T1-B and joined them by the ship. “So we good to go then?”
“Well I aint no pilot, but she looks pretty beat up. They ripped the cockpit apart.” Duke sat down and dangled his legs over the foot of the door, looking up at them and taking a cigar from a pocket. “Take a look if you like, bet the other ships are the same though.”
Samzi jumped up and trudged through the ship. Sure enough, the cockpit had been torn to pieces by the creatures. Although they had power there was no way they were going to get this one off the ground. He turned and almost bumped in to the other two rebel soldiers.
“Guess we check out the others then.”
“Think it might be another trap?” asked Slyfox.
“Nah, they’re too dumb for that.” Said Duke, shaking his head and turning back to the exit.
“I think you’re underestimating them.” Replied Samzi, “something tells me they have a bigger plan than we realise.”
It took almost half an hour to check all the ships, clearing them one by one before being able to carry out a proper survey of the damage. They didn’t encounter any more of the creatures, though they could hear them howling somewhere in the darkness. None of the ships were in any state to fly, all of them had been sabotaged in some manner and showed various degrees of damage.
“So glorious leader, whats the next plan?” Duke addressed Samzi while taking a black cigarra from a pocket and lighting it. Samzi waved the cloud of heavy smoke away and backed away a few paces.
“I’m the leader? Great.” Samzi mulled it over for a few seconds. “Any ideas?”
“Can we jury rig any of the panels together?” Slyfox gestured at the ships as he spoke, “We take whatever we need thats in the best condition and just slave it in, as long as we can get off planet we’re safe. Maybe we got some spares in one of the ships, anyone checked that?”
“I break em I don’t fix em.” Said Duke, inhaling deeply before blowing out another thick cloud of smoke.
“There are no spares. We’ll have to patch the panels together as best we can.” Cut in Samzi, “And today Duke you’re going to learn how to fix em.”
They worked together, first deciding which ship stood the best chance of repair then moving through the others, pulling away control panels and whatever tools they could find. By the time they had finished the sky was turning a deep shade of blue, indicating the oncoming sunrise.
“Ok, Duke you man the T1-B, keep her close to the jump door and man the turret. You see anything approach, kill it.” Samzi gave the order and jumped on the Gallofree quickly followed by Slyfox.
“Think they’re likely to attack when the sun comes up?” asked Slyfox.
“Don’t intend to be here to find out.” Answered the medic, “Secure the doors, leave the jump door open, Duke can close it when he jumps on.”
It took the two men less than 15 minutes to get the cockpit back to working order. The damage inflicted by the creatures was not as serious as they had first feared. No major connections had been broken, panels had only been ripped from their housing and not physically destroyed. Slyfox held his breath as Samzi leaned forward and pushed the engine ignition switch. It coughed and whirred for a few seconds then stopped.
“Try again!” Urged Slyfox, balling his fists and pushing them hard against the arms of the co-pilot chair. Samzi reached forward again and pushed the button. The engines whirred and coughed then groaned into life. They rumbled slowly at first then settled in to a gentle hum that could be felt through the deck plates. The instrument panels lit up and Samzi ran easily through the startup checks.
“Go grab Duke and secure the door.”
“Aye aye sir!” said Slyfox getting up and heading rearwards. He stood at the jump door and waved at the T1-B turret but it continued to stare out over the landing zone. Slyfox looked round and spotted a hydrospanner. He picked it up and threw it towards the T1-B, it struck with a heavy clang that echoed slightly from the sides of the ship. The turret continued to look forward and Sly started to feel a rising sensation of panic in his stomach.
“We ready?”
The voice came from behind him and Sly almost fell out of the door, snatching at the grab handles to steady himself.
“Cack me Duke. What you doing there, you scared the life out of me! You were meant to be in the tank.”
Duke extended a hand and pulled him upright before smacking the control panel to drop and secure the door in place. “Had to go wee wee mate, then the engines started while I was on the latrine. No harm done though right?”
Sly looked at him, “Guess not. Lets go check on Samzi and see about getting out of here.”
They made their way forward and settled in to the large cockpit. Duke took the sensor station while Sly took the co-pilot chair again. Samzi had a last check of the instrument panel then reached for the control column.
“We’ll head up past the sensor station first. Maybe some of Krenyo’s lot made it up.”
“You want to carry out a rescue mission for people you’re not even sure are alive?” Slyfox stared at him incredulously.
“Yep. We made it didn’t we?”
The ship throttled up and lifted easily from the landing zone. Another howl echoed from the towering cliff walls but none of the men onboard the rebel transport heard it from the safety of their ship.
-
Chapter 16. Waste
Krenyo, Benu and the Imperials had struggled to agree on any kind of plan to escape the confines of the control room. The only routes off the roof all led through the hangar. Tarketh was certain the creatures were centralised in that area.
“This controlling hive mind thing, is that housed there?” asked Krenyo, breaking the silence that had settled after the last debate.
“I don’t see how they could have moved it. It was housed in a deeper level below them. Why?” Tarketh replied wearily, he and his men were tired of the same debates they had already had since their confinement in the room.
“If we could destroy the hive mind, wouldn’t the creatures become dumb? Didn’t you say they needed the controlling originator?”
“To begin with yes, they need the central hive mind. Once they have assimilated enough though we believe they are able to randomly produce secondary hives. Almost like insects, in that way they can splinter off and more rapidly spread the disease.”
“So, you think they have reached this point then? Thats why they want the ship?” Krenyo sagged back against a wall. If the creatures were now able to continue even after the destruction of the first host.... The implications were too horrific to contemplate. If they got off planet they would be able to spread easily throughout the galaxy.
“You guys hear something?” One of the Imperials cocked his head as he spoke, straining to catch the noise again. The room suddenly lit up and the men shrank back trying to cover their eyes. Benu raised a hand in front of his face and approached the window, squinting against the blinding light.
“It’s one of the transports!” He shouted excitedly, waving the others forward to the window. The large grey ship outside flashed its landing lights a couple of times then turned away and banked to the side.
“It’s a rescue attempt.” Said Krenyo turning to Tarketh. “They’ll go and turn back then come in at a better angle. You can come with us, I promise we will not take you prisoner. We’ll drop you on a planet somewhere so you may return to your own forces.”
Tarketh studied the strange Rebel leader before answering. “Thank you Sir. I accept your offer, naturally you will wish to secure us once onboard. My men and I will willingly give up our weapons when requested.”
Krenyo nodded and looked back out of the window. The Gallofreewas coming in slowly and had started a slow turn, approaching side on with the jump gate open. He could see a rebel soldier in the doorway waving at them.
“Ok, arm up, we get one chance at this. On the roof, as soon as we can we run and jump on the jumpgate. If he gets too close the repulsor’s will throw the ship off course and those tanks out there don’t give him room to land.” He gave the order quickly, the men around him already powering up weapons. The Imperial troops took up a breaching position by the door. Two men each side with one in the centre. Tarketh gave the command and they executed the move flawlessly, The trooper at the door hit the switch then stepped back, weapon in the aim giving covering fire. The two nearest the door on each side rushed forward and took position again on either side, kneeling down giving more cover fire if needed. Finally, the remaining two rushed forward, stepping forward a few feet then dropping prone.
“CLEAR!” shouted the guy in the doorway, gesturing the remaining men forward.
Tarketh looked at Krenyo and nodded at his men before smiling. “We’d have had you.” He said before running forward on to the roof.
“Cack me, he has a sense of humour.” Krenyo said it out loud to no-one in particular but Benu heard him and just shrugged.
“Come on, lets get off this rock.”
The transport was almost in position, just a few more metres and they would be able to start jumping forward. Krenyo could see Duke in the doorway, he had attached a simple rope ladder to the grab handles, giving them a little more chance of making the leap. The Imperial soldiers had once again shown their professionalism and taken covering positions in a semi circle.
“Get ready to go!” Shouted Krenyo over the noise of the ship and the wind that was being whipped around them as it inched towards them.
All of a sudden there was a burst of sizzling blue light. It arched and buzzed over the hull of the ship, one of the tendrils reached out and stabbed at Duke. His body reacted immediately, limbs were forced rigid and his head was thrown back. A second later he toppled forward through the door and fell to the ground. He never even screamed. The engines on the Gallofree were no longer making any noise and it began to drop. Slowly at first, quickly gathering speed as gravity took hold. More DEMP bolts struck the hull and it hit the ground hard. The men on the roof could hear the metal hull protesting and groaning, followed by heavy blaster fire.
Krenyo ran forward and looked over the edge. The creatues were pouring forward from the hangar, beating on the side of the hull or sinking weapon fire in to it. The ATST was sending bolt after bolt from its chin guns in to the cockpit, metal shone red under the attack before melting in to slag and swallowing the shots.
“Nooooo!” He screamed, smacking his hand down on the edge of the roof. Tarketh dropped down beside him and paled.
“It’s a trap. They knew the ship was coming and we’d leave the room. We have to get back.”
Blaster shots rang out behind them and the men turned. More creatures were emerging from the stairwell in the far corner of the roof level. It led directly to the rear of the hangar and they were starting to act like seasoned soliders. One or two still ran recklessly towards them, but others were using the roofs natural barricades, firing shots towards the exposed men. Others were splintering off to the sides, trying to get round and cut them off from the control room.
“Head back to the room, focus your shots on the flanking group!” called out Tarketh, taking control from Krenyo who was no longer in any condition to lead. The Imperial reached down and picked him up, throwing an arm around him.
“Krenyo, for cacks sake start firing!” he shouted, struggling to support the man and fire his weapon at the same time. Benu and the troopers were working well together, taking it in turns to fire and manoeuvre. They were almost at the doorway now and were beating the creatures back. A sudden heavy crack sounded and the air blew them all to the floor. A smell of ozone hung in the air and for a second all was silent, then the creatures roared again, different this time, somehow angry.
“What the cack was that?” gasped Benu, struggling to get to his feet and raise his weapon.
“Look.” One of the Stormtroopers pointed up at the sky. Another flash and explosion from somewhere in the stations courtyard, the men all looked up at the sky. A familiar shape hung there, illuminated by heavy green flashes.
“Our message got out.” Said Tarketh gently, “I’m so sorry.”
Krenyo stared at the triangular shape of the Star Destroyer as more bolts struck around the station. “They’re not going to rescue you?”
Tarketh shook his head and lay back, closing his eyes. “Have you ever seen a Star Destroyer perform an orbital strike Krenyo? It can be quite beautiful. They were never going to rescue us, just destroy any evidence of the experiment.”
“So we sit and wait to be vaporised?” asked Benu, watching the creatures on the roof break off the attack and run back to the hangar stairway. Another blast struck the huge sensor dish and sent shrapnel in all directions.
“Yeah,” Answered Krenyo, “it’ll be quick.”
They watched as the blasts from the Destroyer increased. A bright pin prick of light grew larger as it fell towards them, it enveloped them like a floodlight, incinerating them immediately and passing easily through the structure of the station.
It took only minutes for the Star Destroyer to destroy any evidence of what had been there before. Everything was destroyed by the ships heavy guns and streams of molten metal ran down cliffs and gully’s. To ensure the completion of their task, the Imperial Navy dispatched a trio of TIE Bombers to over fly the area. Any small structure left standing was knocked flat by proton bombs. Satisfied with their work the small ships returned to the Destroyers hangar before it turned and drifted away from the planets gravitational influence and made the jump to hyperspace.
A wrecked ATST lay amid the ruins of the sensor station on the Plateau. The legs had been torn away and the main body lay holed and dented. The hatch popped open without warning and a grey sickly coloured hand reached out. He knew they would be back. They had done this, they had to be punished. He would wait.
-
Wow... Made me speechless...
The ending was great, might be my favorite part of the story. All those lives were wasted, which is what the title meant, I guess. And it looks like it's not over, too.