NationStates Jolt Archive

As the man moved through the street he glanced over his shoulder, the street was empty as it should, be then again one never could be to careful. The ruins as they were called was all that was left of the original city of Grathmoras, the new city had been simply build over top of the old. There was no natural light here, only the rare lamp that drew its power from a stolen source, the smell sewage filled the air, the rest of the outside world wanted little to do with what remained of the past. Those that called this hell home where either social outcast, or those that did not want to be seen, men like Carlos.

Once again he looked over his shoulder to make sure that he was not being followed, sure that there was no one behind him he ducked into a dark alleyway. Water splashed as he inadvertently stepped into puddle as rushed into the blackened void. Reaching the end of the alleyway Carlos found himself standing at a dead end, looking to his left he saw a thick metal door. Reaching out he slammed his first hard into the door, he could hear the echo of his knock on the other side.

Suddenly a slot opened up on door as pair of eye looked out at him. “What the word” said a shady voice from the other side of the door.

“Camornas Tharkrus” stated Carlos calmly. His response had to have been the right one, as lock to the door were undone, as the door opened two rather large men who were both carrying some type of heavy weapon step aside to let Carlos by. Without giving the two more then a passing glance Carlos push through making his way down a series of hallway until he found himself in a main room. It seemed as if he was the last to arrive, as there were already a number of man waiting, some he knew other he didn’t. “So gentlemen, why is that you have asked me here today.” He said out loud hoping to get some answers.

“You are here, because there is something that we would like for you steal for us.” Said a man, Carlos couldn’t make his as it was hidden in the shadows. There was something about the mans voice that even sent chills up Carlos’ spine.

“Really, and what that be?”

“The plans to the Rhine Maiden” said the shadowy figure once again. This time he leaned a bit more into the light, but his face still seemed to somehow elude Carlos’ view

“The Rhine Maiden?” Carlos could do little to hide his surprise at his new assignment.

“From what we have gather it an terrible weapon, if we could gain control of such weapon that we could use it against Tappee, and finish what we have started so long ago.” Said another man, this man Carlos knew, but not his real name. Truth was he didn’t know the real name of any of the people in the room just their reputations.

“Alright, were are these plans?” Carlos suddenly knew that this was going a rather important assignment, one that could really turn things in favor of their cause, and at this point couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Procol” said the man in the shadow.

As quickly as his excitement had grown he now found it had disappeared just as quick. “Procol” he stuttered back in response. “We’ve all heard the rumors, as to what happened there. Not to mention that there is an entire battle destroyer division guarding the sector.”

“Rumors are just that, rumors” said the man that Carlos could see. “We have ways to get around the fleet. However, you feel that you are not up to the task then we could assign the mission to another cell.”

His shocker then turned to anger; he had to prove not only to those in this room, but himself to turn away. “I’m more then sure that my team and I can handle anything that we might encounter, we will get those plans to matter the cost

Once again the man spoke from behind the shadows “Good, you will find all the information you need in the case that is located behind you.”

Turning Carlos saw one of the guards that he had seen place a brief case of the ground. He was going to say something but realized that there was nothing else that need to be said other the usual boring chatter, and he knew that no here had the time or patients. Turning his heel he walked out smoothly grabbing the case as he walked by.

Far away on the planet Procol things were much different. Hidden deep beneath the ground hidden is the darkness something stirred; it had not gorged it self in some time, and it could sense that food would soon be on its way.

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Carlos

Everyone was going about their day to day business, as always the station was a flurry on station. Today Carlos found himself on Trading Station 19, it was located on the edge of the Procol System, as was the main contact with the rest of the universe, and was the hub of all activity coming in and out of the system. All walk of life, human and non-human alike, it was nothing short of melding pot of diversity.

Looking up Carlos saw that he had indeed found his destination, a shady looking bar, the type bar that one always found trouble. Swing the door open Carlos made his way in, as he did he scanned the room for the man that he was here to meet. One by one Carlos mentally eliminated each of the bar patron, until he saw his contact who was sitting alone in the corner.

“Why Dante do you always want to meet in this dump” joked Carlos as he got close enough for Dante to hear, he ignored the glare that he received everyone else in the bar that had heard him. He had known Dante for some time; Dante had never supported their cause but was morally flexible for the right price. He would do what he was paid to do, and never ask any questions.

“Well you know that I can’t go too deep in the core.” he joked back in response “I am a wanted man after.” He reached out shaking Carlos hand. “It’s been some time old.”

“Carlos took the seat that was seated across from Dante. “Yes it has. It will be just like the old day wouldn’t. Tell me what is the game plan?”

For a moment there was a bit of smile on Dante’s face as he quickly replayed their last few adventures in his head. “I’ve got a ship hidden in my cargo bay, the plan is for me to follow the trade route that runs near the quarantine zone, at the close point we will launch your ship then can proceed in, while my crew and I continue along our way.”

“Alright, as soon as the rest of team get here we will get started.” Answered Carlos.

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Carlos

As the door slide open Carlos took a quick mental check of the room to make sure that everyone was there.

Off to his right he Brain fiddling with his weapon making sure that it would be working properly when the time came. Brain himself was a rather large man, standing 6’6 and as solid as a tree. He bore the scars of two many battles, Carlos knew that no matter how bad things got that Brain would had have their backs.

Sitting alone in the corner was Kate, the outcast of team; she was the only member of the team that was not ex-military. Her weapons skills were lacking to say the least, but what she lacked in brute strength and combat talent, she made up in brains. Her ability to bypass any security system was a constant asset, it had bailed them out of trouble too many time. Carlos believed that she had been a master thief before she joined up with the team, though she never really talked about her past.

Seated at the main table was the rest of the team, Alec, Carter, Edward, and Tammy, the four were enjoying some type of card game. Tammy was the team’s sniper, as long as her target was within her weapons range, she could kill it. Edwards was the demolition specialist, Carlos was sure that he had some type fixation with blowing things up. Carter and Alec balanced the team out with a generalized skill set; all had seen some type of combat.

Alec was the first to see that Carlos had entered the room, “good morning” shot Alec quickly. Quickly the rest of the team said the same as they all looked up and saw their team leader.

“Hope you all got your rest, cause we are an hour away from our drop off point so its time to gear up.”

Out of utter boredom, Carlos reached up and gently massaged the bridge of his nose, their ship had been dropped off about six hours ago, since then he had done nothing but share at a computer screen to make sure that they had not been detected. At the other side of the cockpit sat Alec and Carter, sit in the pilot positions, the two of them were argue over some type of sport, and which team had the chance to win this seasons playoff.

Suddenly he heard the door to the cockpit slid open, he looked over his shoulder just in time to see Tammy come in. A smile came over his face along with a rather large sense of relief; she was here to replace him. “Here you good” he said as he stood up and motioned towards his seat, “I’ve even keep it warm for you.”

“You are just to kind” she answered back sarcastically.

“For you anything” he jabbed back, he took a moment to glance over at the others. “Well I’m going to go get some rest, I anything pops up let me know.

Not giving them a chance to ask him for anything rushed out and rather hastily made his way to the crew quarters. As he rounded the corner one of the doors opened and he slide in trying not to be noticed. No sooner had the door had shut when he found a set of arms wrapped around him.

“What took you so long?” asked Kate as he kissed the nape of his neck passionately.

He pulled her closer returning the kiss, “She was a bit late for her shift.” He knew that everything about this was wrong; it was never a good ideal to get involved with someone under his command. However, there was something about her that he just could not rest, she wasn’t soldier, as such there was this innocence to her that reminded him of his earlier days.

Once again they passionately embraced each other “How long do we have” Kate asked

“We have long enough” Carlos answered as he turned off the lights.

Everyone was scrambling around the cockpit as the call had come in. they had picked up a Tappee Battle cruiser, and so far they believed that they had gone undetected so far, but that would not be the case so for long.

In some what of panic Carlos took his seat at the helm, they had landed up making contact much earlier then they had anticipated. They had been given the area’s patrol routes, and according to those charts, the ship should not be here.

“We should cut and run” Carlos heard someone say in the background; given all the alarms he could make out who had made the comment. “They now we are coming, and this is a trap.”

“Everyone calm down, NOW!” Snapped Carlos in response, given is time in the service he knew that Tappee commander didn’t like routine, it was too predictable, and this was case. Beside he had known that this could happen, and had taken steps to react to any contact that had been made. Luckily their source had managed to give them the Tappee’s fleet sensors frequencies, since Carlos now knew those frequencies he was able to setup a shield that would make them invisible to the battleship sensor. However, it now meant that they would have to move slower, other wise the Tappee Battleship might pick up their sensor echo.

“Alright reduce speed.” he typed in the adjustment in to his consol and held his breath, if those code were wrong this was going to be a very short trip. With out realizing it Carlos took a deep breath as he waited to see if this would actually work.

Seconds passed into minute, and everyone feel silent. They all watched as the Battle cruiser continued on it way, and their ship eventually passed out of sensor range. There was a collective sigh of relief as they realized that they were now in the clear.

Carlos could not help but allow a sigh of relief to come over his face. “That was too close, how long until we reach the planet.”

“Given our current rate of speed, we should get there in about four hours” answered Tammy.

“Good me better start to get ready” said Carlos as he looked over at everyone.

Following their rather close call, Carlos and team had been able to avoid any further entanglement, and now go visibly see the planet of Procol. However, this was not the planet that Carlos remembered from his youth.

Carlos had done some his military training her, and it was the first foreign planet that he had ever visited, he could remember flying to the planet and seeing how lush a vibrant the planet looked from space, it had just been selected as mining colony, and was still ideal for jungle training. However, what he saw now was no jewel that he remember, but instead a giant barren gray rock. He was amazed, from his viewpoint there seemed to be nothing left alive.

“Wow, it seems that they really mined the hell out that planet” said Alec as he looked over Carlos shoulder.

“We are only meant to think that it was stripped mine” answer Carlos quickly, Alec gave him a quick confused looker “Usually when a planet is stripped mined you lines that run horizontal to the planets axis, hence the term stripped mined, as you can see this planet does not have that. Instead you can see a number of giant craters. Plus if you take into account the fact that Procol was originally planned to permanent colony” he paused for a moment and he brought the craft into the planets orbit and he needed his concentration.

As they cut thought the sky and neared the surface off their right they could all see a city, or at least what once was city. Charred skeletons of what once used to be buildings shot out from the ground almost to serve as nothing more then giant tomb stone. Other building lay collapsed in the streets, and gray layer of dust had long since settled. “no this planet has been intentionally destroyed.” Then added Carlos as the passed by “most likely from an orbital bombardment.” His voice was calm, but distant.

“I think that your right” said Carter after a few moments “There is an extremely high amount of radiation here. Look like nuclear fallout to me.”

“Prefect place to hide a top secret base” answered Carlos as he put the shuttle down at the landing zone. As the ship landed it threw dust up everywhere, it was so bad it seemed that day had become night. Now the light came from the light inside the ship. Looking over at everyone Carlos could see that they were all geared up. “Alright time to do this.”

Grabbing his radiation helmet he followed the other to airlock. There room left in the airlock as everyone filled in with them and their equipment, but there was just enough. Time was not on their side, they would have to move fast in order to fulfill their objective. There was a hiss as the door closed behind them, the light in the airlock switched from red to green, and the door to the outside world slid open.

With calculated precision the team moved out. Gun drawn searching for target in case this might have been an ambush, satisfied that is was now safe they started moving.

“Our entrance should be about 400m from our position.” Said Carlos over the comm. “follow me.” Using the HUD display in his he guided the team, they moved in line until a beep in his HUD tell him that this is where they had be.

Looking down he could a 5x5 square rising up from the ground, it didn’t look like anything else around them, but it was covered in 4cm of dust. Dropping down to his knee he used his arm to push the dust to side reviling some type of metal panel.

Seeing her cue Kate also dropped to one knee, pulling a wire from a data pad on her wrist she plugged the open end of the wire in to an opening on the panel. “It will take me a moment to hack in”

While she was working rest of the team formed tightly around her, if they got into trouble this access panel would the only place that they could escape too, and they could not allow anything to happen to her.

After a few minute there was slight hiss as the panel slide opened to show a ladder that lead deep into ground. Quickly Brain pointed his rifle down the hole as searched for anything out of the ordinary. “Clear”

Alec and Carter were the first two to go down, then Kate, Edward, Tammy and lastly Carlos. As he entered t he shaft he closed the panel behind him. It was about 10m to the base of the ladder, “Radiation is good in here” said Tammy as Carlos got of the ladder.

Their radiation gear was big a bulky and nosy, and not ideal when conducting and operation that required stealth. With haste the team started to take off the radiation gear.

“Why does it seem that these secret base always seem to have a back door that is never guarded” said Edward sarcastically.

“Enough” shot Carlos “don’t jinx it alright.” He looked over at the door that was located near by. “That should be the elevator that should lead deep into the complex.” At least he hoped it was the elevator since there were no other exits other then the ladder that led to the surface.

Kate went over to a panel near the elevator and did her thing, a moment later the door slide open “we’re in she said with a bit of a smile on her face. Pilling into the elevator the team started their decent down.

Moments before the doors to the elevator open the team brought their weapons up to the shoulders. According the plan they should not find anyone standing on the other side of the doors, but the team had enough experience to know that things didn’t always go as planned. They could feel a slight increase in weight as the elevator slowed coming to a complete stop and the doors slid ominously open.

Without hesitation the team made the way out of the elevator and into the small room that waited for them, their weapons the whole time searching for any target that way or way not pose as threat.

“Clear” said Alec quietly, but load enough for the others to hear him. Several ‘clears’ followed as the rest of the team took their positions.

“Do you smell that?” asked Kate after a moment or two. There was a smell that didn’t seem right, she could put her finger on it but she knew that it was out of place.

Carter took a moment to concentrate his senses. “Yeah it almost smells like rotten meat. There must be a garbage depository nearby.” It was not uncommon to have underground facilities such as this to store their waste on site in order to avoid any unwanted attention.

“Yeah but it really strong” added Brain, at first the smell was weak but it seemed to be getting strong with each passing moment, almost to the point wear it was getting overwhelming.

“Alright everyone, switch to your masks.” Ordered Carlos, though he would have never admitted the smell was starting to get to him as well. “and heads up once we leave this room things are going to get dark, according to intel there is not going to be much light in these tunnel so I need everyone to stay sharp. It going to take us some time to navigate the maze out there and it will be some time until we reach the main facility. So we better get a move one.” With Carlos’ orders the team put on their gas mask and then one by one filled into the dark corridor.

It seemed like an eternity since the team had left the safety of the elevator and had entered the darkness that had engulfed the corridor. There was little light to guide them, instead they relied mostly on equipment to help steer them in the right direction. For the most part their trip had been relatively quiet, expect for the fact that it seemed that they were now lost in the maze of tunnels. Tensions rose as the team had come to a cross road in the corridor and waited for Carlos to give them their new direction.

“Do you have any idea of where we are going?” snapped Alec, he was visibly annoyed with the lack of progress that the team was making, and he was never know to be one to be patient, or one to respect authority for that matter.

“I’ve got the map here!” shot Carlos back in response, for the moment he was going to ignore Alec’s outburst, only this once. “According to this we should not be to far.”

Before Alec could say anything back in response Tammy cut in, and what she had to say caused everyone to worry “I’m picking up movement on thermal head this way.”

Without even taking a moment to think things over the team formed up in a defensive position, preparing to handle whatever threat was coming towards them. However, they were only met with silence, tension filled the air as they waited.

Then off in the distance they could hear the sound of footsteps, and from all indications whomever it was, was head towards them. Out of the darkness a single body came into view. Acting on pure instinct members of the team opened fired, killing the man before he could make a anymore steps in their direction falling to ground dead.

However, there was something different about this man, first off his clothes. The man was not warring the standard uniform that one would expect a Tappee soldier to be wearing, instead of battle fatigues he was wearing an orange jump suit.

“Cease fire!” ordered Carlos when he realized that something was not right, from what he could tell the man was not even armed. His mind began racing trying to come up possible scenarios, the only plausible one was that his team and him had the unfortunate timing of stumbling on to a prison break. Before he could finish his thoughts he could hear more steps coming towards them. “Hold your fire.”

This time instead of one man, there were several, as they came into view the group of man continued to ran towards them. “Run you fools, they are right behind us.” Yelled one of the men.

There was a look of fear on their faces. “let them pass!” Shot Carlos as the group drew even closer “get ready for things to get hot.” There was little doubt in his mind that guards were hot on their tails.

As the group of inmates passed the team turned their sights forward, there were was only darkness. “Anything coming up on thermal.” Asked Carlos

“Nothing.” Answered Tammy, but her senses told her otherwise, she could hear the sound of low moans bouncing of the walls of the corridor “What ever is out there is don’t like” there was a hint of fear in her voice.

Figures started to appear out of the darkness, and this time they were sure that they were now facing Tappee soldiers. There bodies slowly lurched forward, gently swaying from side to side; their appearance was also accompanied by a putrid smell.

Once again the team fired into advancing threat, this time the volley was much more intense. However, the volley did little to stop the enemy advance, not a single man had fallen, they pushed forwards into the light. Now the team could fully see what was encroaching.

From what they could see the flesh on each of soldiers barely held its grip to the bone, and flesh looked to decayed to belong to a living creature.

“Oh my god” said Carlos to no other then himself, when full scope of what they had got themselves into hit him.

“They are coming in from other side” said Kate as she motioned down the other corridor, and this time there were much more them.

Suddenly and without warning the team now found themselves in a position that they did not now how to handle. They were surrounded on two side by an enemy that did not seem to be able to die no matter how they threw at them.

Carlos tried to consider their option, but in truth there where none, all that they could do fall back and try to escape. “Abort mission” he barked quickly, in truth those words resonated through his body, he had never failed a mission before and now he felt utterly defeated. However, it was better to be defeated and alive then dead.

Within moment of Carlos giving the order the team formed up into a formation that would best give the chance to escape, sweeping their rifles from side to side they put down suppressing fire to slow the enemy advance then one by one they turned to run. Edward and Carter were the first two to turn and run followed by Tammy, Kate, Alec, Brain, and lastly Carlos.

Through the darkness the team ran desperately trying the get back the elevator shaft. Turning a corner they ran head long into the group of men that had passed them earlier, this time they were going to head their warnings.

“They are coming up right behind us.” Said one of the men.

“I saw a junction a little ways back that we passed” said Kate as panic gripped the other “If we hurry back we might be able to get there before those things do.”

“Yeah then we might get lost” shot Alec back quickly. He didn’t like the idea of wondering off into area’s that they didn’t know, especially at this moment in time given the circumstance.

However, Carlos knew that with their escape route cut off, Kate’s plan was the only chance that they had “It the only way out right now, we better hurry if we want to get through this.”

Turning on their heels the team turn making their way back to what could only described as the their salvation. As luck would have it they had managed to cut of the fiends before they got there, just barely. These creatures were coming at them fast, and so where the ones from the rear.

Edward suddenly developed a plan that might give them more time. Stopping at the junction he reached into his bag pulling out some explosives. “I’m going to blow the junction” he proclaimed a kneeled to begin setting up the bomb. “It give us more time.”

Though the plan made sense to Carlos, there was not enough time until the creature caught up to them. “There isn’t enough time, they will over run your position.”

“I will stay with Edward and give him cover, that should give the rest you time to escape.” Shot Alec quickly.

Time was not on their side, and Carlos did not have time to argue. Giving the two men a nod him and the others turned and ran.

“This better be the fast bomb that you have ever built.” Shot Alec quickly, that’s when he saw it. He could see the crowd emerge from the darkness, until they saw Edward with the bomb, that when feel back into the darkness as if they knew the danger they were facing. Hidden within the darkness came a low growl, without warning two dog came running out, there appearance was similar to the others, as the flesh hardly held to the bones. Their speed and agility proved too much for Alec to handle all his shot missed their mark. It did not take the creatures long to close the distance between them and Alec, but to Alec surprise they ran past him taking Edward down fast and hard. Edwards struggled for a moment but it was over quickly.

Overcome by fear Alec turned and ran, and it would seem that the creatures were still having their way with Edward to notice Alec. However, Edward had set a bomb and the time hit zero, since the rest of his explosives were nearby to magnified the explosion. With the narrow tunnel the concussion was amplified throwing the team around like dolls. For Carlos and the rest of the team everything went black.

Slowly Carlos sat up, as he did he was met with a sudden rush pain through out his entire body. It took him a moment of two to work pass the pain, gradually he rose to feet. His head felt as it had been hit by a baseball bat, and his vision was a touch blurry.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice was a bit weaker then normal. He took a moment and took count, there were two other men he did not know, and it would seem that they were also missing Edward. “Where’s Edward. However, from the look Alec’s face he knew the answer.

“Edward didn’t make it.” he answered as he forced the words out.

Events of the attack rushed back into Carlos’ memories, and things started to become much clear to him.

“We can not go back, the roof caved in” said Tammy ending the silence. As she stood she looked as if she was in as much pain as the other, her face was cover with both blood and dirt. “We can’t go back.”

Things had gone horrible wrong during the mission, and Carlos was beginning to think that this was trap. He turned the only two people who might give him some answers, the two men in the jump suits. “You what is going on here”

“I don’t know” answered one of the men, it look as if he had to eaten in days “I was arrest some time ago, the next thing I know I’m along with 15 others. At first we though that they had dropped us of at some sort penal colonie.”

“I would have preferred that” interrupted the other man “We wondered around tunnels for some time until we ran into the things, they stocked at us every turn, now the two of us are that left.” Some thing off in the distance caught his attention. “I hear them coming We have to get out here and fast.”

As an attempt to put some distance between them and this new threat the group had been running down a series of corridors. At every turned they were faced with a new maze of other corridors. Normally they would have stopped and looked, but fear forced them to take what way seemed liked the best option at the time.

“What are those things” Asked Brian as they rounded another corner.

“They are the walking dead” said one of the new comers “when we first got here he caught one by self Rob rammed a spike in its chest, then it simply got up a continued coming.” His remark landed up sparking a debate among.

“May he is right” shot Tammy, the fear could be heard in her voice “We’ve all heard the rumors of events of Brathmal, and the battle of Steel moon. What if they were true?”

Alec gripped his rifle a little tighter “What if he is right, I know what I saw back there. How do kill something that is already dead.”

Sensing the panic among the group had no choice but to deal with this right now “Listen those rumors were spread by the government to keep people afraid, so that they would have an excuse to go the war, I am sure that there is an reasonable explanation as to what is going on here.” He said as they came to another impasse. Down one corridor it sound like someone was waiting for him, it almost felt if he was being pushed or directed somewhere. However, for the moment his option were limited “Quick down this way, keep your eyes sharp”

It did not take long until the team found them self’s end the end of the corridor, but as luck would have it was not a dead end but in fact a door. Carlos for a moment felt relieved, it would seem that they had come across a door to the main facility. No one here knew who was sitting on the other side of that door, or in this case what. However, at the moment his option were some what limit, it was either wait here for the things to catch up with them, or take there chance.

“Kate, the door” he said after weighing his choice, perhaps they could steal find what they were looking for.

As Kate started working with the door, the rest of the others took a more defensive position around her in the off chance those creatures had followed them, while leave their two newest additions alone to their own devices.

“We are not going in there” sputter one of the men. “why?”

“It is far better then what we are facing here” Carlos shot back angrily, he didn’t like being question, especially now. An uneasy silence fell over everyone, the only sound was Kate working in the back.

A moment, the door gears came to life causing the door to slide open, and one by the team slide behind its safety. With everyone one other side Kate closed the door.

Carlos turned to find looking at the facility. They were find that they were the main entrance, and from what he could see a battle had taken place here some time ago. Blast mark scattered the wall, debris was every, and there were several bodies.

It was these bodies that concerned him, there were a dress in Tappee uniforms, but most seemed to be unarmed civilians, and all had either been shot in the head or had their removed. At first glance it would appear that the flesh on the bodies had removed by time, but after taken a closer look he could teeth mark on the skeletons.

“Everyone stay focus, a keep a tight formation.” He said as he glanced over at the others, even though they were soldiers her could see the terror in their eyes. “No one goes off by themselves understand we stick to together.”

As the team formed up he lead them deeper in the facility.