Gorkon
31-10-2005, 17:17
The waters were eerily calm, creating almost no noise as they lapped gently up against the hull of the GMS Vortigon, an unremarkable frigate stationed 300 miles out of Gorkonian territorial waters. This part of the world was plunged into a 6-month period of eternal night once a year, and it was presently right in the middle of its darkness. The ocean mirrored the black sky, making it seem unfriendly despite its docile nature.
With clouds blocking out the only remaining natural light, stars and the moon, the only source of light for hundreds of miles around were the running lights of the Vortigon, and the light escaping from open windows and doors. Its rippling reflection in the water was broken by a small black vessel, seemingly designed to be virtually invisible to radar and even the naked eye. It crept up slowly to run alongside the larger vessel.
"This is the reason that women shouldn't be allowed on naval warships," Crewman Heenjos grumbled, staring across the virtually-empty messhall at a female officer, who sat alone with her back turned.
"Man, even if you could do something about it, she's an officer and you're a lowlife," said Private Melk as he roughly slapped the crewman on the back. Unlike the 'seaboys', he was a soldier and part of the small Colonial Infantry force stationed on the vessel. He had considerably more chances to get off the ship, and had no qualms about rubbing it in.
"Try telling that to my subconscious," Heenjos said. "'Cause it ain't listening to me."
"What you need is some shore leave, my friend," Melk grinned. "I tell you, last week I nailed six chicks in one night! You really shou... oh wait, that's right, you naval boys don't get off the boat very often, do ya?"
"Oh sod off," Heenjos said, shoving him jokingly off his chair. "I thought you had graveyard duty anyway."
"I certainly do," Melk said, dusting down his casual army uniform as he stood up. "Have fun doing... whatever it is they have you doing down in the secure sector."
"'Fun' isn't the word," Heenjos shuddered. "I hate it down there. I'm not easily scared but... well, what they do down there is pretty creepy."
"But of course you can't tell me what it is... right?" Melk said.
"'Fraid not," Heenjos shook his head. "I could end up in a court martial just for telling you it's creepy..."
"Well, I won't say anything to anybody," Melk shook his head. "See you later, anyway."
The Colonial Infantryman paced out of the messhall, mock-saluting the officer as he passed her by.
Heenjos sighed one last time as he gazed at the stern woman, who seemed somewhat rattled by Melk's improper gesture, and rose to his feet. He made his way around the tables and chairs and reached for the door, but found that his feet fell from underneath him as the ship lurched to one side...
...it seemed like hours before he came to, but in reality it was only a few minutes. As his vision cleared and his ears stopped buzzing, he could see the lights flickering, and he could hear all sorts of noises that shouldn't be happening. Weapons fire, screaming, the occasional bellowing 'bang' that sounded distinctly like grenades of some kind. From another area of the ship, screams of a different kind. But... from that low below decks they shouldn't be able to hear any sound. Those areas were completely sealed, air-tight... the ship could sink and those areas could survive intact for a week before they ran out of air.
Not that he had much time to think about it. The damaged metal door to the messhall flew open as an explosion ripped its hinge mechanism to shreds. Three men stepped through. They were dressed from head-to-toe in pure black Kevlar. Even their faces were obscured with black masks, with glowing 'blue' eyes apparently helping them to see in the inconsistent light levels of the damaged ship. Stranger still, the 'black soldier' levelled an MA5B assault rifle at him, the standard-issue assault rifle of the Gorkonian Colonial Infantry...
That was the last thing he thought as a bullet cracked a hole in his skull and tore through its innards.
"Gamma two-zero, messhall secured," the leading 'black soldier' said through a radio which distorted his voice a little. "Moving to primary deck, over."
The soldiers stepped over the corpse and made their way through the messhall, exiting through the damaged door on the other side.
"Private! Fall back, two-by-two!" Colonel Klurkson yelled to Melk over the sound of gunfire. The Infantrymen had been driven from the first five decks of the ship, and were perilously close to the dead-end which was the secured sector.
Whoever these guys were, they were good. Too good. They had systematically moved from the rear of the ship all the way down, and then moved down to the next deck and done the same, killing or forcing into a retreat anything that got in their way. The fact that they were armed just as well as the Infantrymen, and seemed to have much tougher body armour, only made matters worse. Melk was certain he'd shot one of the bastards in several places, including his head, but he simply got back to his feet and returned fire.
Melk lobbed a frag grenade over the cargo crate he was using as cover, and pelted down the corridor along with another private, as two soldiers stayed back to cover them. They ducked down behind some bulkheads and allowed those two to fall back, leapfrogging over each other's cover until they were behind an emergency flood bulkhead. As soon as Melk was through, a thick chunk of metal dropped down and clunked into place.
"That should hold them back for a while," Klurkson said, checking his sleek assault rifle over a couple of times.
"Sir, with all due respect, why the hell are we risking our lives? Why hasn't anybody ordered the ship to be abandoned yet?" Melk snapped. "This bucket of bolts is older than me, and it has a hull breach -- we should just scuttle the thing with those bastards on it. Sir!"
"Stow it private," Klurkson scolded. "We have orders to defend secured sector at all costs. We will remain here until we are all dead, or until the threat is neutralised. Now, all teams, fall back to checkpoint alpha and await further contact."
Several squads of Infantrymen across the ship made their way even closer to the secured sector of the ship. They all regrouped at 'alpha checkpoint', which was the only entrance to the sector. Automated motion-triggered gun turrets, laser trip wires attached to grenade-sized explosives and gas release systems, and more security cameras than you could shake a VCR at were just some of the security measures guarding all the narrow corridors leading up to the large blast doors. The secured sector was almost like a bunker built into a ship, designed to keep virtually anything out that wasn't supposed to get in. It would take a direct nuclear warhead impact to completely destroy the thing, and an army the size of a Mongol horde to get close enough to put one there. Or at least, that was the plan. The old ship had needed extensive structural modifications just to house its immense weight whist retaining the look of a 'normal' frigate on the outside.
"Alright apes," Klurkson spoke up when all the (remaining) Infantrymen had regrouped beside the security checkpoint. "Here's the deal: NOTHING is getting past alpha checkpoint's active security systems. So why are we here? Because even if something as tiny as rat gets near the place during code red, we get to pump it with so much lead that you'll be able to use it as a novelty pencil by the time we're done. So check your gear and load your ammo -- it's party time, ladies! POSITIONS!"
The demoralised group seemed less depressed as they cheered and found cover all around the large blast doors. They patiently sat back, waiting for anything to happen. In the distance they heard an explosion. And another one. And another one. A whole series of thudding explosions echoed down the corridor. Some of them were probably the 'black soldiers' taking down emergency bulkheads, but most of the were tripwires going live.
A period of silence, followed by the deafening sound of ten automated gun turrets bleeping in unison as they detected movement. All of them armed with miniguns, the sound of that many bullets hitting metal at once could probably cause permanent damage to the eardrum. It went on for nearly five minutes before they all ran out of ammunition. A few more explosions, and the sound of gas being released into enclosed spaces.
Somehow, a 'black soldier' leaned out from behind the corridor and fired at the unsuspecting soldiers, downing three of them in one sweep. Melk was lost for words -- nothing could survive that. Unless they already knew what to expect...
A second soldier poked his weapon out from the opposite corridor and fired, this time receiving some retaliation. A grenade bounced off a wall and landed right in the middle of the group of Infantrymen. In that confined space, they had no chance of avoiding it. Melk lost consciousness for a few seconds as he was smashed into the wall. Despite the searing pain that ran through his dying body, he managed to open his eyes and tried to lift his assault rifle, but he couldn't muster the strength.
The black soldiers emerged from their cover, casually gunning down the remaining two soldiers as though they were untrained civilians. They either didn't know or care that Melk was still conscious.
"Target located and secured," one of the soldiers said through his radio, coldly. "Deploying package now. Request door lock combination sequence, over."
"Combination sequence is 5-5-2-2-6-7-6-1-7-2-1-7-8-1-5-2-1-GAMMA-BETA-BETA-ALPHA, followed by 1282-5825-2851-7832-6812-6815-6761-9185-0031-DELTA-THETA-BETA-BETA," a voice replied. "Sample DNA to be inserted into the corresponding receptacle to confirm code and open blast doors. Your retinal scan should be in the system as of... now. Note that power outages may have caused a breach of containment in the secured sector -- recommend immediate evac upon opening blast doors. Over."
"Acknowledged," said the leading black soldier in a gruff voice. As he set about opening the enormous blast doors, the other soldiers wheeled in a trolley. Melk's eyes found enough energy to widen as he saw what looked like a thermonuclear warhead fixed to the trolley. They entered a series of codes, and set up a 10-minute detonation countdown. Melk desperately tried to lift up his assault rifle, but failed once again.
"Timer set sir," one of the black soldiers said through his radio. As if in response, there was a deafening roar from the other side of the blast doors. The doors slowly whirred open as all the locks disengaged.
"There!" one of the soldiers shouted as the doors began to reveal whatever was behind them. Melk couldn't see what it was from his vantage point, but it seemed to rattle the black soldiers, who immediately started pouring streams of bullets through the gaping hole. From the sound of things, they hit flesh too.
"Is the package ready to be delivered?!" the lead soldier called over the noise.
"Yessir!" another replied.
"All units fall back to nest, repeat, all units fall back to nest! Command, containment has failed, urgent withdrawal..." the leader called through his radio. The soldiers fired a full magazine of ammunition through the doors, and then turned tail and sprinted back the way they had come.
Everything went quite silent, except for some strange tapping noises from inside the secured sector. And Melk was certain that he could hear some breathing...
As his vision started to blur and fade, a strange shape appeared in front of him. What looked like... eyes? Looking straight at him. And a foul smell engulfed him. Just as everything went black and silent, he heard a horrific, multi-toned roar, which seemed to rattle the whole ship. And then the pain went away.
Roughly five minutes after the small craft had disappeared under the water and sped off, the frigate seemed to swell and the dark ocean was suddenly alive with a blinding white light. As it subsided, there was nothing but a mushroom cloud rising up into the sky and spreading across the waves.
With clouds blocking out the only remaining natural light, stars and the moon, the only source of light for hundreds of miles around were the running lights of the Vortigon, and the light escaping from open windows and doors. Its rippling reflection in the water was broken by a small black vessel, seemingly designed to be virtually invisible to radar and even the naked eye. It crept up slowly to run alongside the larger vessel.
"This is the reason that women shouldn't be allowed on naval warships," Crewman Heenjos grumbled, staring across the virtually-empty messhall at a female officer, who sat alone with her back turned.
"Man, even if you could do something about it, she's an officer and you're a lowlife," said Private Melk as he roughly slapped the crewman on the back. Unlike the 'seaboys', he was a soldier and part of the small Colonial Infantry force stationed on the vessel. He had considerably more chances to get off the ship, and had no qualms about rubbing it in.
"Try telling that to my subconscious," Heenjos said. "'Cause it ain't listening to me."
"What you need is some shore leave, my friend," Melk grinned. "I tell you, last week I nailed six chicks in one night! You really shou... oh wait, that's right, you naval boys don't get off the boat very often, do ya?"
"Oh sod off," Heenjos said, shoving him jokingly off his chair. "I thought you had graveyard duty anyway."
"I certainly do," Melk said, dusting down his casual army uniform as he stood up. "Have fun doing... whatever it is they have you doing down in the secure sector."
"'Fun' isn't the word," Heenjos shuddered. "I hate it down there. I'm not easily scared but... well, what they do down there is pretty creepy."
"But of course you can't tell me what it is... right?" Melk said.
"'Fraid not," Heenjos shook his head. "I could end up in a court martial just for telling you it's creepy..."
"Well, I won't say anything to anybody," Melk shook his head. "See you later, anyway."
The Colonial Infantryman paced out of the messhall, mock-saluting the officer as he passed her by.
Heenjos sighed one last time as he gazed at the stern woman, who seemed somewhat rattled by Melk's improper gesture, and rose to his feet. He made his way around the tables and chairs and reached for the door, but found that his feet fell from underneath him as the ship lurched to one side...
...it seemed like hours before he came to, but in reality it was only a few minutes. As his vision cleared and his ears stopped buzzing, he could see the lights flickering, and he could hear all sorts of noises that shouldn't be happening. Weapons fire, screaming, the occasional bellowing 'bang' that sounded distinctly like grenades of some kind. From another area of the ship, screams of a different kind. But... from that low below decks they shouldn't be able to hear any sound. Those areas were completely sealed, air-tight... the ship could sink and those areas could survive intact for a week before they ran out of air.
Not that he had much time to think about it. The damaged metal door to the messhall flew open as an explosion ripped its hinge mechanism to shreds. Three men stepped through. They were dressed from head-to-toe in pure black Kevlar. Even their faces were obscured with black masks, with glowing 'blue' eyes apparently helping them to see in the inconsistent light levels of the damaged ship. Stranger still, the 'black soldier' levelled an MA5B assault rifle at him, the standard-issue assault rifle of the Gorkonian Colonial Infantry...
That was the last thing he thought as a bullet cracked a hole in his skull and tore through its innards.
"Gamma two-zero, messhall secured," the leading 'black soldier' said through a radio which distorted his voice a little. "Moving to primary deck, over."
The soldiers stepped over the corpse and made their way through the messhall, exiting through the damaged door on the other side.
"Private! Fall back, two-by-two!" Colonel Klurkson yelled to Melk over the sound of gunfire. The Infantrymen had been driven from the first five decks of the ship, and were perilously close to the dead-end which was the secured sector.
Whoever these guys were, they were good. Too good. They had systematically moved from the rear of the ship all the way down, and then moved down to the next deck and done the same, killing or forcing into a retreat anything that got in their way. The fact that they were armed just as well as the Infantrymen, and seemed to have much tougher body armour, only made matters worse. Melk was certain he'd shot one of the bastards in several places, including his head, but he simply got back to his feet and returned fire.
Melk lobbed a frag grenade over the cargo crate he was using as cover, and pelted down the corridor along with another private, as two soldiers stayed back to cover them. They ducked down behind some bulkheads and allowed those two to fall back, leapfrogging over each other's cover until they were behind an emergency flood bulkhead. As soon as Melk was through, a thick chunk of metal dropped down and clunked into place.
"That should hold them back for a while," Klurkson said, checking his sleek assault rifle over a couple of times.
"Sir, with all due respect, why the hell are we risking our lives? Why hasn't anybody ordered the ship to be abandoned yet?" Melk snapped. "This bucket of bolts is older than me, and it has a hull breach -- we should just scuttle the thing with those bastards on it. Sir!"
"Stow it private," Klurkson scolded. "We have orders to defend secured sector at all costs. We will remain here until we are all dead, or until the threat is neutralised. Now, all teams, fall back to checkpoint alpha and await further contact."
Several squads of Infantrymen across the ship made their way even closer to the secured sector of the ship. They all regrouped at 'alpha checkpoint', which was the only entrance to the sector. Automated motion-triggered gun turrets, laser trip wires attached to grenade-sized explosives and gas release systems, and more security cameras than you could shake a VCR at were just some of the security measures guarding all the narrow corridors leading up to the large blast doors. The secured sector was almost like a bunker built into a ship, designed to keep virtually anything out that wasn't supposed to get in. It would take a direct nuclear warhead impact to completely destroy the thing, and an army the size of a Mongol horde to get close enough to put one there. Or at least, that was the plan. The old ship had needed extensive structural modifications just to house its immense weight whist retaining the look of a 'normal' frigate on the outside.
"Alright apes," Klurkson spoke up when all the (remaining) Infantrymen had regrouped beside the security checkpoint. "Here's the deal: NOTHING is getting past alpha checkpoint's active security systems. So why are we here? Because even if something as tiny as rat gets near the place during code red, we get to pump it with so much lead that you'll be able to use it as a novelty pencil by the time we're done. So check your gear and load your ammo -- it's party time, ladies! POSITIONS!"
The demoralised group seemed less depressed as they cheered and found cover all around the large blast doors. They patiently sat back, waiting for anything to happen. In the distance they heard an explosion. And another one. And another one. A whole series of thudding explosions echoed down the corridor. Some of them were probably the 'black soldiers' taking down emergency bulkheads, but most of the were tripwires going live.
A period of silence, followed by the deafening sound of ten automated gun turrets bleeping in unison as they detected movement. All of them armed with miniguns, the sound of that many bullets hitting metal at once could probably cause permanent damage to the eardrum. It went on for nearly five minutes before they all ran out of ammunition. A few more explosions, and the sound of gas being released into enclosed spaces.
Somehow, a 'black soldier' leaned out from behind the corridor and fired at the unsuspecting soldiers, downing three of them in one sweep. Melk was lost for words -- nothing could survive that. Unless they already knew what to expect...
A second soldier poked his weapon out from the opposite corridor and fired, this time receiving some retaliation. A grenade bounced off a wall and landed right in the middle of the group of Infantrymen. In that confined space, they had no chance of avoiding it. Melk lost consciousness for a few seconds as he was smashed into the wall. Despite the searing pain that ran through his dying body, he managed to open his eyes and tried to lift his assault rifle, but he couldn't muster the strength.
The black soldiers emerged from their cover, casually gunning down the remaining two soldiers as though they were untrained civilians. They either didn't know or care that Melk was still conscious.
"Target located and secured," one of the soldiers said through his radio, coldly. "Deploying package now. Request door lock combination sequence, over."
"Combination sequence is 5-5-2-2-6-7-6-1-7-2-1-7-8-1-5-2-1-GAMMA-BETA-BETA-ALPHA, followed by 1282-5825-2851-7832-6812-6815-6761-9185-0031-DELTA-THETA-BETA-BETA," a voice replied. "Sample DNA to be inserted into the corresponding receptacle to confirm code and open blast doors. Your retinal scan should be in the system as of... now. Note that power outages may have caused a breach of containment in the secured sector -- recommend immediate evac upon opening blast doors. Over."
"Acknowledged," said the leading black soldier in a gruff voice. As he set about opening the enormous blast doors, the other soldiers wheeled in a trolley. Melk's eyes found enough energy to widen as he saw what looked like a thermonuclear warhead fixed to the trolley. They entered a series of codes, and set up a 10-minute detonation countdown. Melk desperately tried to lift up his assault rifle, but failed once again.
"Timer set sir," one of the black soldiers said through his radio. As if in response, there was a deafening roar from the other side of the blast doors. The doors slowly whirred open as all the locks disengaged.
"There!" one of the soldiers shouted as the doors began to reveal whatever was behind them. Melk couldn't see what it was from his vantage point, but it seemed to rattle the black soldiers, who immediately started pouring streams of bullets through the gaping hole. From the sound of things, they hit flesh too.
"Is the package ready to be delivered?!" the lead soldier called over the noise.
"Yessir!" another replied.
"All units fall back to nest, repeat, all units fall back to nest! Command, containment has failed, urgent withdrawal..." the leader called through his radio. The soldiers fired a full magazine of ammunition through the doors, and then turned tail and sprinted back the way they had come.
Everything went quite silent, except for some strange tapping noises from inside the secured sector. And Melk was certain that he could hear some breathing...
As his vision started to blur and fade, a strange shape appeared in front of him. What looked like... eyes? Looking straight at him. And a foul smell engulfed him. Just as everything went black and silent, he heard a horrific, multi-toned roar, which seemed to rattle the whole ship. And then the pain went away.
Roughly five minutes after the small craft had disappeared under the water and sped off, the frigate seemed to swell and the dark ocean was suddenly alive with a blinding white light. As it subsided, there was nothing but a mushroom cloud rising up into the sky and spreading across the waves.