Private Oda tensed. The situation? What situation?
“Private Oda, as you have just heard, we have a new problem,” said the Brigadier General. “The Reactor aboard the spacecraft Tremor has just been destroyed by the Aliens. The last surviving humans are putting up a fight beside a Repeater in the basement. This Repeater is the only thing keeping Tremor from drifting off into space. All navigation systems are down, as well as weapons. The leader of the surviving group has set up a make-shift launching dock which they use to receive reinforcements, if any come. No nation has answered their plea. But we will.” Haynesworth stopped, looking off into the distance. He then focused back on Oda. Oda felt small under the watchful gaze of the Brigadier General. He continued, “We are sending you, as well as Captain's Kelly surviving team aboard Tremor. This team is the only group of soldiers that know about the aliens and how to combat them.” Oda was just about to say that he didn't know how to combat then, but Haynesworth raised a hand for silence.
“Understood, sir,” said Captain Kelly with a salute. The Brigadier General saluted back. Oda swallowed.
“I wish you well, men,” said Haynesworth. “You leave in oh-six-hundred hours. Good luck.”
* * *
The setup aboard Tremor was fast. Captain Kelly's team arrived in less than 12 hours and were introduced to the surviving team efficiently. They were handed weapons of choice from the still functioning armoury and grabbed medkits from the still functioning medistation. Private Oda was surprised to see that the survivors also had a working defense computer and a few Tesla generators. This was impressive, as a Repeater usually didn't have enough power to handle this many buildings and power a spacecraft at the same time.
Oda noticed a pile of dead alien bodies in one corner. There were about 20 of them; most Dretches, but the unusual Basilisk and even Marauder leg could be seen every so often. He walked over to poke at the dead aliens and suddenly a brief vision of a Dragoon pouncing appeared before his eyes. He screamed, dropped his rifle, and half fainted.
I guess I still haven't recovered from that attack yet, thought Oda. A Tremor crew member can and extended a hand to help him up. Oda thanked him, and was about to compliment on the alien bodies when Sergeant Dent yelled an alarm. Another wave of alien attacks was about to take place.
He hurriedly picked up his rifle and placed himself close to the only entrance to the basement of the spacecraft. He looked at the closed double-doors, and breathed a deep breathe.
There was a thud on the door. The locking mechanism held. The captain of the surviving team motioned for a soldier with a mass driver to cover the door. He quickly crouched/ran in front of the door, about 3 meters back, and took aim. There was another thud. The locking computer pad on the door buzzed, then short-circuited. Oda could hear someone swear under their breath. For a while, nothing happened. Then the double-doors slid open. Everyone raised their weapons and pointed it at the door, but nothing appeared. And then.....
The head of the mass driving soldier came off. His body slumped to the ground. “Oh fuck!” yelled Private Stevenson. From the corner of his eye, Oda saw the Private starting to wildly fire at the dark shadow that had killed the human. None of the bullets seemed to hit it. Stevenson emptied his whole clip into the moving shadow, and looked down to reload. Pretty soon, his head was gone too. The thing stopped at the Private's body, and turned to look at Oda. He immediately froze. It was a Dragoon.
Multiple bullets pounded the Dragoon's body. The Alien roared and took off with Private Stevenson's head in its jaws. First Lieutenant Takahashi ran over to the frozen Oda, pulled him up to his feet, and slammed the rifle back into his hands. He shook the Private out of his nightmares, then ran off to help his Captain and teammates.
Private Oda was dazed. The creature from his worst nightmares had come back to haunt him. But no, not this time. A blood lust began to form in Oda's mind. He slowly walked over to the dead mass driver-bearing Marine, and reached down to take his weapon. Then he crouched and took aim at the Alien, trying to do what the dead Marine had failed at. Oda ignored his teammates shouts and curses, and ignored the growls and roars of the Dragoon. He put his eye to the scope on the gun and zoomed in twice. The Dragoon was in his sights now. The gun automatically locked on to the target with a red circle. Oda squinted, put his finger on the trigger, and squeezed.
He shot right through the Dragoon's neck. The Alien roared once and slumped to the ground. Wide eyes and opened mouths turned to face Oda, all of them unbelieving what he had just accomplished. The Private moved towards the seemingly dead Alien, still cautious. Once he reached the body, he looked down into its eyes. They were still moving around frantically.
“Die!” shouted the Private. He blew the Alien's eyes out. Gore splattered on his uniform and his face. “Die motherfucker!” The frenzy took over him and he emptied the whole gun into the head of the Alien. He then threw the gun away, and was about to reach for his blaster when he felt a hand on his arm. Oda turned around and saw Captain Kelly with a sympathetic look.
“It's dead, son,” said the Captain. Oda slowly calmed down and the blood lust faded. He was just about to retrieve his rifle when Sergeant Dent yelled again.
“It's not over yet, ladies,” he shouted. “We've got more on the move!” Oda sighed, ran to get his weapon, and prepared for another attack.
END OF CHAPTER 5
Chapter 4http://tremulous.net/forum/index.php?topic=10998.0NOTES:
Sorry for the late post. I was out camping with some friends. Oh and by the way, I just have one question: what language is Dretch? Or is it just a made-up name?
Kael'Thas Out.