Insurgency
Prologue
1763 held onto 9023's hand, nervous. His pod and him were getting their Training Sergeant, and they were nervous. A young ARMS cadet and an old man walked in. They were conversing in low tones until the man saw the ten toddlers standing in a group, watching him fearfully.
"You didn't tell me they were kids," said the old man, turning to the cadet.
"All clones start training as children." The cadet replied, stiffly, "These units are approximately 2 standard years old."
The old man made a sound of contempt at the word "units." Then he took a good look at them and said, "Wait, 2 years? They look older."
"They have accelerated growth until they turn 10." The old man made another sound in his throat. He turned to the cadet and said, "Dismissed."
The Cadet saluted and left. One of 1763's squadmates ventured forward towards the old man. The old man bent down in front of him and asked, "What's your name?"
"2365," replied the clone. The man frowned and said, "I don't believe kids should have numbers for names. Follow me, boys."
2365 latched onto the old man's hand and the rest of the squad followed.
Within 15 minutes of greeting each other, each clone had their names. 1763 was now known as "Ash." His squad had turned into Hunter, Kav, Brey, Zero, DD, Sev, Jazz, and Luca. A cake was also passed around by the old man, who introduced himself as Chiron.
"Chiron," Zero said, as if tasting the name.
"Your names used to be my own comrades when I was in the army." Chiron said, patting DD on the back.
"You were in the army?"
"Yes. More specifically in the Imperial Army. Now I'm retired, but an old friend of mine called me up." Chiron sighed and stretched out his legs. Sev spoke up, "How was the Imperial army like?"
Chiron's brow wrinkled, "It was nice, overall. I mean, there was tough training and all, but I couldn't die. Actually, I only got hit once in my whole time as a soldier."
"Why?" Ash asked.
"We would, let's say, wake up in a different body. This body isn't an original." The clones looked amongst themselves in wonder. Ash wiped icing off of his lips and said, "Can we go use the showers?"
"Go ahead." He waved them off and they ran inside.
After about an hour of getting ready for the evening, Chiron chucked some cushions onto the ground and threw some blankets over them. "We'll solve the sleeping quarters tomorrow. I'll kip on the sofa."
Ash climbed in with the others ready to get to sleep.
Boom! Chiron's eyes flew open as he heard the thunder strike outside. He had been dreaming about a serene field, when the world exploded. It was where he had lost his squad. He still had nightmares about it. It was also a planet with no consciousness transmitters, so they died for good. He then realized there were a pair of eyes focused on him in the dark.
"Chiron?"
"What's up?"
"I'm scared."
"The thunder?"
"Yes." Ash scurried onto the sofa next to him and buried his face into Chiron's sweater. "It's like bombs going off."
"Really?" Chiron held him and ruffled up his hair, and he thought that Ash was doing pretty well for a soldier. But tonight, he needed to be the kid he never could have been.
1 year later
"Don't worry about it boys, it's just pig guts."
"Uh, just?" Zero asked, doubtfully. The 10 of them peeked through the tunnel again. "That's a lot of pig guts."
"Well, follow me," Chiron said, crawling headfirst into the hole. Ash wrinkled his nose before following. Jazz made a gagging sound, "That's nasty."
"Augh, this is going to take forever to wash off!" Kav complained.
"Hey, it's a pig heart." Brey said, identifying a large lump of meat.
"Brey, you have a morbid curiosity," replied Hunter, who was bringing up the rear. Ash looked up and saw the barbed wire right above him. He swallowed nervously and crawled after his sergeant. Suddenly, Chiron said, "There goes my breakfast."
Squelch! The clones looked at each other before groaning at the rank smell of puke. Ash quickly crawled around the spot where it was tinged green and wretched. "Did I mention this is how most of your comrades would look like when they step on mines?" asked Brey. They groaned in reply.
Chiron pulled himself out of the wet hole and watched his trainees crawl out. Despite being only a sergeant, he had unofficially adopted the kids and had preferred to call them sons. They stood there, stinking of dead pigs and blood. DD and Cleo looked at each other and said, in unison, "That is nasty."
Then fell over laughing. Chiron smiled to himself. 6 year olds. How typical.
Brey took a large piece of meat out and said, "This is going to be all over the battlefield?"
"Umm, why yes."
"Wow!" Chiron was startled at this sudden exclamation, but shook it off. He should have known. It was the same kid who fantasized that killing insects were the way to have fun. He excused himself and walked outside. The moment the door closed, he leaned up against the door to listen.
"That has got to be the worst thing I've ever done," Kav said.
"There's gonna be the live fire simulations," replied Luca, "I hope we don't, you know, die."
"Aww, don't say that," DD said, "Did you see Chiron barf?"
"Yeah, must've been pretty disgusting for that to happen."
"Yep."
"I think he was crying a bit, too." Ash piped up. Chiron was surprised. He had cried a bit while he was crawling because he couldn't imagine the young toddlers who would one day be doing this for a living.
"Yeah, he was," Hunter agreed, "speaking of which, I wonder where he is right now."
"I hope he isn't crying his eyes out for us," Brey said, "I mean, what could get worse?"
4 years later.
"Ahh-tenn-shun!"
Ash and his fellow trainees stood to attention. Being 8 standard years old and biologically 16 years old, he and his fellow clones were 2 years away from becoming part of the ARMS Defense Marine Corps. Hunter, the clone next to him and team leader of their pod group, scuffed his boots and whispered, "I wish that old fella up there would hurry up. I'm hungry."
"Ah, me too." Ash looked down the row at the rest of the clones. Identical faces, stony, professional look, all the looks that don't belong on a 16 year old's face. Being a clone was rather depressing, but had it's advantages. They had made the accelerated growth stop at 10 standard years and extended their lifespan. He could live a full 200 standard years now, and only start looking old at about 180. Chiron died of old age at about 72. It was sad. They were dumped into a harsher sergeant's care, but it bred them to be the killing machines that they were born to be. However, clones had to be raised without much motherly care that other people enjoy, and Chiron had given them that care. But, as a soldier, there was always the risk of dying.
"1763! Get down and give me 40!" Ash jumped as he heard his pod number called and he dropped to on all fours and began to do push ups, counting in his head. After about 30, he cursed at his rash action to move during their "brief." He straightened back up after his task and stood, straight backed.
"Alright, everyone file out!" Ash was confused for a moment when the clones dispersed, but a podmate, DD, grabbed his elbow and steered him towards the gun range, where the rest of the group was. Hunter was handing out sniper rifles.
"Here, Ash. We're apparently going to be a squad of Snipers when we get out there, so, best practice on your sharpshooting." Ash took a sniper rifle and tested the weight in his arms.
"Wow, that's heavier than I thought." Hunter nodded and stepped back. He looked at the pod group and said, "Today we are doing a special ops style of sniping. Remember, one shot, one kill."
Ash filed in behind Kav and they entered the zone. The zone was a everchanging landscape that formed to each and every training session. It was supposed to replicate the unexpected terrain or land when in combat. Today, it was a pine forest. Ash pulled on his training headset and saw his podmate's names show up in green above their figures.
"Ash, Brey, Sev, head over to the cave. Me and the others will head right down this path. We need to eliminate the militia leader. He is wearing gray fatigues and a red barrette," Hunter's voice growled in his ear.
Ash nodded and waved for Brey and Sev to follow him. They silently made their way to the cave when some thing snapped a stick just ahead. They all ducked out of sight behind a log, holding their breaths. Ash peered over and saw a militiaman moving through the forest, whistling to himself. There was a muffled crack from a silencer and the militia man dropped. Ash looked to his right and saw Sev with the barrel of his gun, smoking.
"Good shot. Let's move." The trio ran into the cave. Ash ran his hand over his thick, curly hair nervously as he spoke, "Hunter, we're in position. Any orders?"
"Take position near the cliff right next to you. Proceed with caution. You're in full view."
"Copy that."
3 years later.
"DD! Talk to me!" Ash shook his comrade's body and mortars slammed down around them. Moments before, DD and Cleo were chatting in the in the wheat patties when a mortar landed between them. Cleo took the full blast and was blown apart, and DD was chucked like a ragdoll across the field. Hunter and Sev disappeared into the wheat fields and Ash could hear gunfire in the distance. DD remained dead. Ash looked at Kav and Kav gave a helpless shrug and pulled off DD's dog tag. Another mortar hit the ground nearby, shaking them up. Leaving DD's body behind was something they both couldn't do, as it didn't feel right. There was a scream in the distance. Ash and Kav ran in the direction, their guns raised. Jazz, Brey, Zero, and Luca and ran towards the sound, and they encountered Hunter, who was wounded on the ground.
"Hit in the abdomen! Get Sev!"
"Where's Sev?"
"Out there!" Hunter jerked his arm in the general direction of some gunfire that was suddenly silenced, "Watch out, there's a whole swarm out there!"
Ash nodded and they moved in. They reached a clearing where they saw Sev lying eaglespread on the ground. They ran over and, to their dismay, his biosign vanished. Sev had been killed. Ash felt the world crumbling around him. He barely saw Luca bend down and remove the dogtag, and almost did not see Jazz's head jerk and a spurt of blood spray everywhere. The group raised their rifles and scanned around. Suddenly, a large number of militia men materialized from the crops, rifles aimed at them.
"Hands up," said the one in the lead. The marines slowly dropped their rifles, and raised their arms. Only Brey remained defiant and kept his rifle lined up on the man.
"Don't be a fool, marine. You can't take us all out." Brey sighted up. A militant panicked and ran at Brey with a pistol, firing wildly. Brey jerked his gun to the right and fired one shot, killing him instantly.
"If you must. Kill them, slowly." The Militants ripped out their knives and bats and charged the marines. Ash parried a blow and swung with his knife, killing a militant that had just hammered Zero to the ground with his bat. Zero's visor was cracked and blood was running out of it. "Zero?"
No response.
Ash's blood pounded and he attacked the leader, who was fighting Brey and Luca at the same time. The leader hammered Luca down and grabbed Brey into a headlock. He grimly pulled out his pistol and fired into point blank range into Brey's spine. Ash roared and rushed him. A militant yelled, "Kabova! Watch out!"
Ash's fist collided with Kabova's cheek, ripped a huge gash into his cheek and Kabova backed up, holding his head.
Kav waved for Luca and Ash to go. His leg was broken and he was lying on the ground, but his gun was flashing away,cutting militants down like wheat. "Go! I'll keep these sons of a bitches busy!"
"Ash! We gotta get outta here! Hunter might die!" Luca yelled, gunning down two militants. The two of them turned and ran into the wheat fields, leaving Kav behind, until they found Hunter, who was barely conscious. They each grabbed a arm and dragged him as fast as they could. Bullets ripped through the wheat fields around them. A grasshopper the size of Ash's helmet nearby exploded as a bullet tore through it, throwing green goo everywhere. The sounds of combat slowly faded away and a long, drawn out scream blasted through their comlink and Kav's biosign disappeared.
Ash brought his comlink to his mouth guard and spoke into it, "Red zero, red zero, red zero. Immediate extraction required. 1 injured marine and 2 active. Injured marine down and not walking."
"Dropship 457, reporting to your position. ETA 4 minutes."
"4 minutes?! We haven't got 4 minutes!"
"Sorry, sir. This trash can't go any faster." Ash grumbled discontentedly and they dragged him into a cave, where it was more sheltered.
Luca yelled, "Incoming!"
Ash and Luca took positions on each side of the cave and fired on the oncoming militants, causing them to scatter. Luca yelled at Ash, "I'll head up the ridge and snipe 'em. Cover me!"
Luca sprinted out of the cave and disappeared. Ash held his trigger until his clip ran out, no confirmed kills. A round struck the cave wall and ricocheted and Ash felt a thumping pain on his left arm. His aim went wild and it sprayed gunfire everywhere. A militant got close and pointed a gun at Ash's face. A crack! and the militant dropped as Luca sniped him.
"Ash! Hold on! I can see the dropship!" Ash could hear it too as he gunned down more militants. There was a shattering sound of machine gunfire from the dropship and the militants in the open dropped. Ash grabbed Hunter's arm and dragged him out to the dropship. The dropship gunner waved them in and the ship took off.
"Luca, we're headed your way!"
"Hurry! There's a whole lot down here! Ah, bloody hell, I'm hit...!" The words faded to static as the militants jammed their transmissions.
"Luca?" No response.
"Luca!" They skimmed low over the trees, looking for Luca, but no sniper was in sight. Bullet streamed up at them, yellow in the afternoon sun. The dropship gunner staggered as a spray of blood flew from him and he fell off of the ship into the trees.
"Sorry, marine, we'll have to leave him. I'm taking heavy fire," the pilot's voice buzzed in the intercom. Ash didn't reply as he sank to the floor in despair. Hunter woke and patted Ash's arm weakly and said, "Don't worry. We'll be getting our revenge. Just wait."
Insurgency
Part One
"Three, two, one, mark," rasped Hunter's voice in Ash's earpiece. He promptly fired his sniper rifle, killing the militant on the left and Hunter took out the one on the right.
"Good shot. Let's keep moving." Ash got up from prone position on the rooftop and followed Hunter to the next viewpoint. The two snipers were one of the first members of a invasion from ARMS on planet Kirtana. They were to release a group of Imperial soldiers held as hostages who had stolen plans.
"Stop," commanded Hunter. Ash skidded, pebbles getting crushed under his boots in the process. After shooting Hunter a questioning look, Hunter motioned to the two towers. At almost the same exact moment, a glass window next to Ash's head cracked, showing bullet holes in it. Sniper, he thought. He dropped and sighted up on the man hiding in the tower. He held his breath and squeezed the trigger. A body tumbled out and fell.
"Hurry up! Alarms have been raised! Go go go!" Ash got up and started running along the square rooftops, leaping over gaps and scaling the walls to higher ground. Yells could be heard in all directions, and a quick look told him that people with guns, bats, and planks were swarming in on them. Ash fired some rounds at them and realized Hunter wasn't there. Ignoring this fact, he turned and continued running. He brought his left wrist to his mouthpiece and said, "Hunter, do you read me? We gotta get outta here!"
"I've noticed. I've lost them, and I can see you perfectly fine," came the reply, "Jesus, it looks like the whole community is out to get you!" Ash heard several cracks of gunfire and a chimney on his left shatter. A man with a knife lunged at him. Ash brought up his armored arm and deflected the knife while ejecting his knife out of his gauntlet. The man grabbed Ash's knife arm to stop him from stabbing him. Ash headbutted him and then kneed him in the balls. The man staggered, bent over in pain. Ash took the opportunity and stabbed the back of the man's neck, severing his spinal cord. Shaking the blood off his knife, he sheathed it and continued running. Several militants tried to intercept him. Ash heard several cracks of sniperfire and the men dropped. Ash poured speed into his sprinted and jumped through an open window. Rolling, he realized there were militants in the same room. The militants, about 7 of them, pulled out machetes and started to hack at him. Ash dodged left and right, using his knife and deflect some blows. He plunged his blade into a militant's stomach and whirled around, swinging as he went. Another militant fell, clutching his throat. Fist connected with Ash's chin and he staggered. However, due to his helmet, more pain was inflicted on the other party and he stabbed the immobilized militant. He disarmed another militant and used it to cut open another's stomach, and something that looked like spaghetti spilled out. Ash spun around, his machete clashing with another. He ejected his blade and stabbed the wielder, killing him instantly. Keeping the blade open, he merely punched another man with his blade arm, mortally wound him. Ash followed up with a right jab and then punched him again with the blade. The man fell back, screaming. The last militant, having lost his machete, tackled Ash. Ash punched him with his right hand and tried to throw him off. A arm snaked around his neck and began to strangled him. Ash jabbed his elbow into the man's ribs and felt a sick crunch as the man's ribs broke. Unfortunately, the man had a death grip so he resumed strangling him. As his vision began to fade, Ash saw a flash outside the window and heard a ziiip! The man released him as his head was blown off by a sniper round.
"Ash! Are you okay?"
"Fine as ever. Was that you?"
"Yeah. It was a tight shot. I don't think the militants know where you are now. Keep moving, I'll cover you."
"Copy that."
Jessie looked around hopelessly at the militants surrounding him and his squad. If only they hadn't taken their sidearms. He wasn't thinking about escaping from them. He was thinking about shooting himself and his squad so their consciousness could be transferred to clones. So effectively, it was another form of escape. Crack!
Jessie looked up, looking through the window hoping to see a full strength battalion of Imperial soldiers headed their way. No hope, but there was a dead militant lying on the ground. Jessie sighed and sat back down. There were only a few guards in here maybe they can take them out. One of the militants cocked his head as he heard the gunshot and he headed to the door, leaving the other two to guard. The militant closed the door after him and immediately Jessie heard a loud crunch outside. As that was happening, the Imperials jumped up and mercilessly beat the other two down. Stealing the rifles, they prepared to shoot at the remaining militant outside. The door opened and a body dropped in. It was the militant. They shot questioning looks at each other.
"Anyone home?" came a voice just outside of the door, and then a figure clad in armor appeared, wielding a sniper rifle. It was a ARMS Sniper Class Marine.
"Yes. You're here to free us?"
"Not necessarily," answered the marine, looking uncomfortable, "my exact orders were to obtain the plans and intel you had, but rescuing you is the original plan of mine."
"Well, you're not going to be able to get the intel yet. They took the rookie and he's the one with the intel," said another soldier, "he's in the second camp only 2 miles from here."
"No matter. Let's go. I brought presents for you," said the marine, tossing in a bunch of Imperial issued Plasma rifles, which clattered on the concrete floor.
Ash nodded slowly, "So that's why I saw Hector on the battlefield 3 times after swearing that I saw him get shot and die each time?"
"Yes," replied the soldier, Jessie, "We also retain our old memories, so effectively we could escape. But we didn't have a method of a quick and painless death."
Ash nodded again and spoke into his comm, "Hunter, I've rescued three Imperial soldiers, but there is still one missing. He goes by the nickname 'Rookie.'"
"Got it." Ash turned to the soldiers, "I want the three of you to get to the rally point just that way. A warthog crew would be there waiting for you."
Jessie nodded and another soldier piped up, "Good luck. You'll need it."
"Alright, marine. Put your hands up and drop that weapon." Ash whirled around and saw a group of militants walking toward him, with a young Imperial Soldier among them. His hands were behind his back and he looked like he was beat up.
"I said, drop your weapon." More militants were showing up all around him. The speaker pulled the soldier to the front and put a gun against the Rookie's head.
"Put a bullet through his head," said Ash, "I don't care. He escapes if you do."
"Yes, death can help that, but pain doesn't," came the reply. The leader promptly aimed his gun downward and shot the Rookie in the foot. The Rookie screamed in agony and the leader shot his other foot. Ash, hearing the screams of agony, dropped his weapon.
"Good. I'm glad you are cooperating. Now give me the intel."
"I don't have it."
"Liar," snarled the militant, "put a bullet through this imperial meatbag's shins."
Rookie screamed again as his shin bones broke. Suddenly, the leader jerked and there was a spurt of blood on his chest. Ash knew Hunter was watching his back all along so he dove to the ground and pulled out his sidearm. The now dead leader had dropped Rookie so he fell towards Ash. Ash promptly shot Rookie in the chest allowing him to go back to his clone. Ash reached up and grabbed a package in the dead body's belt and got up sprinting. Hunter was still keeping them busy, shooting rapidly and then firing a grenade. Ash dove through a window to get out of the way and resumed running through the streets towards the rally point. He ran into the concrete wall, and thank god, his armor held as he smashed right through it. Militants were descending upon him again. Ash turned left, attempting to lose them. More swarmed in. Ash scaled to the roofs and sprinted away, pouring speed into every step he took. Militants were right after him, shooting. Ash returned fire. A machine gun fired and all of the militants chasing him got mowed down. Ash looked down and saw a warthog speeding parallel to him. Hunter was in the passenger seat, yelling," Toss the package!"
Ash grunted as he threw the green packet at them and Hunter caught it. Ash checked the distance between him and the warthog and made a snap decision. He leapt out into open space, his arms rotating like a windmill. And to his enormous relief, his knee pads smashed against the warthog flat bed and he rolled over. Jessie scooted over and asked him, "What happened to Rookie?"
"He's back in the cloning center."
Jessie gave a nod.
The small land craft sped down the abandoned street by abandoned homes in irreprable despair.
"Where are we going?" Ash asked the driver of the vehicle.
"The starport, we got what high command sent us to get." he answered in cold indifference.
Ash flinched, "Touchy."
"No, he's a blank clone." Jessie explained, "A new breed with emotions voided."
"Yikes."
Jessie nodded again.
The warthog accelerated towards the floating city of gleaming white that hovered slowly into view.
"That's a..."
"Imperial Starport Ash." Hunter said from his perch on top of the warthog.
"Its... its... awesome, not in the way that most people use it its just... wow." Ash muttered.
And it was a sight to behold, a torus stretching perhaps twenty five miles around, lined with buildings of all shapes and sizing sitting both on and under the massive ring. Simmering blue lights raced across the buildings and ring, dancing through coridors that must have been hundreds of feet across. Giant rings twisted about the center, ships flying in and out of them docking and undocking, leaving and entering the base.
"What, what does it do?" Ash gasped.
"What doesn't it do?" Jessie laughed, "It's housing, it's our HQ, it relays all information to us on the battlefield, and it also functions as a battlestation."
"Twenty Lopore class focused sonic cannons, Ten tri-barreled siesmic gatlings, and one Purifier grade orbital siege cannon. 600k shielding, 13 million reinforced. The thing is basically one hell of a command cruiser." Hunter finished.
"Hey, wait is it suppose to do that?" Ash asked, pointing at the dots of light dispersing in all directions of the ring.
"The station is sending a distress signal," the driver grumbled, "everyone in range of the transmission are to get out of the area immediately. Orion is going down."
"Looks perfectly fine to me." Jessie said out loud.
And in an instant, a thunderous boom spread out across the plain, knocking cars up into the air and crumbling entire buildings. From nowhere came a Destroyer class battleship, hovering in high orbit. Flame and smoke poured out from giant gaps in its hull and it fell. But as it fell the craft fired up again, the engines sputtered their last roaring flame, driving the large ship into the starbase and detonating in a spectacular ball of fire. Explosions branched out from the smoking gaping hole, flipping the station nearly over before it fell to pieces.
The small group could only watch in horror as the pieces crashed into the city, turning what survived of the slums into a burning landscape of debris. The shockwave from the explosion finally hit them, tossing the three passengers toward one of the walls while the driver made a feeble attempt to steady the vehicle. But neverless it still flipped over, tossing the gunner across the road like a ragdoll, his body instantly burning in the onslaught of energy from a detonating anti-matter core.
Winking lights... Ash pushed him out of his grogginess. What the hell? He felt as if the whole world was on top of him. He struggled to get up. He sat up all the way and then white lights started popping in front of his eyes. He felt nauseous and the next thing he knew, his lights went out again.
A scream woke him up. A string of swear words and agony blasted in his ears. He quickly checked his biosigns and saw the Hunter was still alive, but the screaming was coming from him. He blinked twice at the biosign, bringing up his partner's information. A 3-D picture of a human body showed up, and to his horror, the lower left leg was glowing dark red. Adrenaline shot through his veins and he jacknifed to his feet. He pulled off his helmet and heard the real screams.
"AAAAAAAAUUUUUGH!! ASH, DAMNIT, WAKE UP!!!" Ash sprinted through a hole in the wall and found the warthog turned over on its side. Hunter's screams could be heard on the other side of the warthog. Ash ran over and vaulted over the overturned car and saw Hunter trapped under the warthog, his left leg crushed under the weight of the vehicle. Ash turned to the vehicle, and received a second shock as he realized the driver was still strapped in. The tangled body in the driver seat was almost unrecognizable. Ash unstrapped the dead body and dumped him off to the side. An Imperial soldier emerged from the rubble, his bodysuit turned gray from the dust. Ash's HUD identified him as Stravers. Ash called to him, "help me get this vehicle moving! He's stuck!"
The two of them shoved their shoulders against the vehicle and the chunk of metal quickly slid aside. Ash knelt down next to the injured leg. He turned to Stravers, "Have you found the others yet?"
"The gunner's dead. I checked. Fay is looking for Jessie." Ash nodded and pulled out a collapsible splint. He strapped Hunter's leg to it and he quickly sprayed the ripped areas with biofoam.
Hunter sighed and laid his head back, "Ah... that feels better."
More rubble crumbled away from the building and then two more dusty figures emerged. Stravers had ripped a metal bar from the warthog and was bending it into a better position for Hunter to use as a make shift crutch.
Fay looked at Hunter and said, "So, Captain, where are we headed now?"
"We should find some type of communications device on the crashed space station. We also need more first aid equipment and ammo."
"My clip is almost empty," Stravers said, "we should start moving."
Fay and Stravers helped Hunter up onto his feet. Leaning on the crutches, he took a breath and picked up the fallen driver's weapon.
"Anyone see the package though?"
"I got it," Hunter answered, holding out the green box, "you don't want to know where I found this."
The small group made their way through the apocalyptic landscape of fire and destruction. The already dilapidated brick and mortar buildings were reduced to heaps of rubble with the odd arm or leg poking out from underneath. Here and there were escaped pods, either torn open by debris or the initial shockwave. Either way, imperial bodies, of both logistics personnel, and soldiers littered the area next to them, The stench of the flesh was nigh imbearable, and when he saw a small body bisected through the waist be a steel rod, Ash stopped and puked.
"Are you alright?" Hunter asked, limping past Ash who was bent over.
"Just, just a bit nauseous." Ash replied, straightning up. He took another look at the small child with eyes permanently glassed over in horror and his stomach lurched.
A firm hand clamped down on Ash's shoulder. He spun aorund to find Stravers with his helmet folded back into his suit. His eyes held a soft glow that stood out from his rugged scars and high cheekbones.
"I know how you feel." Stravers sighed, taking a long look at the child. Ash nodded in response. "Neverless, we have to keep moving, it's getting dark."
Ash looked up at the sky of billowing smoke, and indeed, the faint orb of light that hung over the ruins was almost gone, and with no moon, at night this place would be blanced in absolute darkness.
"Hey, hey, hey GUYS!" Fay shouted at the two.
"What is it!?" Stravers replied, heading up the mountain of rubble to where Fay was perched.
"One of the pods survived Stravers! Survivers!" he shrieked in excitement.
"Well I'll be." Jessie chuckled in happiness.
Over the mountain of rubble in the distance shone a unmistakable bright fluctuating purple light, it was a mobile ray shield. And above that was a holographic 3-D rotating image of a six armed spiral. The four were quiet, but the happiness was unmistakeable, and it clung to the air like the soot drifting slowly down in the heated winds.
"What's going on up there?" Hunter asked, limping around the base of the rubble.
"Survivors!" Ash exclaimed, jumping down the pile to Hunter, "only about a kilometer away!"
"That's great." Hunter smiled, "Now get me over that hill."
Darkness descended on the ruins when they finally did reach the shield, and it was alot larger that it had looked at first glance. The camp was comprised of five buildings, a power generator, a shield projector, two living quarters and a mess/meeting hall. All off this was stuffed within the two hundred meters squared the ray shield covered, and quite obviously the entire construction was done by nanites our of the nearby debris, as most of the surrounding area remained suprisingly barren. At first, no one noticed the group of five standing outside the shield, that is until Stravers unloaded the last of his clip into the shield and alerted one of the guards who lowered the wall of hot plasma and let the group in.
They were given quarters to each their own and Hunter was taken into the mess hall, which was changed into a temperary infirmary filled with wounded Imperials.
The next morning the Imperial seargent woke them up abruptly.
"All right, sissies! Up and at 'em! We need to find a way off this planet and warming the ground with your asses ain't gonna get you anywhere!"
Ash grumbled while reluctantly pulling himself out of the metal cot. He took a deep breath and stood up, his body ached all over. The Imperial cot wasn't very comfortable to say the least, but it was better than having to sleep in the debris field outside. Ash put on his armor and move swiftly outside the small hut. The small group of survivors were already gathering in the mess hall mumbling about the past days events. Ash entered the rectangular building to find most of the area packed with stretchers, most of which were full with injured soldiers. There were about 4 medics clad in white and pink uniforms rushing around to tend to the sick. The able bodied soldiers were gathered in the far right corner around a small table and a raised platform. Ash headed over, carefully avoiding the injured men lying about the ground, some awake, others in artificially induced unconciousness. Ash shook his head and asked a bypasssing nurse.
"Why don't you just kill them so they get back to their clones?"
"Wish we could, we're out of range of the subspace nodes used for that purpose. All death here is permanent." the nurse replied before hurrying off.
Ash sighed and continued toward the table before finding a seat next to Jessie who handed him a prepackaged plastic plate with colored mush distributed in various dividers.
"What is this?" Ash asked.
"Breakfest." Jessie responded, scooping another spoonfull of orange colored mush into his mouth.
"Yes, but what exactly is it?"
"Synthesized nutrients, your pack just happens to be meatloaf and mashed potatoes with peach cobbler for dessert. Its nowhere near as good as real food but the cobbler is close."
Ash ripped off the translucent cover and detatched a plastic spoon off the side before lifting a piece of white mush to his mouth. He grimaced at the smell but put it in his mouth, where he then gagged.
The row burst into laughter at Ash's uncontrolled coughing.
"Shit man," Ash complained after spitting it back into the plate, "it tastes like cardboard soaked in vinegar and sugar."
Jessie gave another chuckle before giving him an "I told you so" and slapping him on the back.
Ash prodded the mush again before trying the orange mush in the top right of the plate, supposable Peach Cobbler. He suck his tongue out tentatively to taste it before putting it in his mouth, chewing and swallowing.
"How's that." Jessie asked.
"Consumable."
"All right, cut the chatter," said a soldier climbing on to the raised platform, "same as yesterday men, spread out in groups of three and gather whatever looks useful, bring back any Imperial or ARMS affiliated personnel who are alive. Report back to base before dusk, that's when the shield is going back up."
"Yes sir, Seargent Emmet, sir!" answered the twenty Imperials seated at the table.
"Allright, you are free to go after breakfest, take whatever you want from the armory, each team needs to carry at least five spoke bombs and a fusion welder. Scout probes are optional since they are very limited in supply." Emmet finished before exiting the mess hall.
Ash pushed himself away from the table and handed his barely eaten tray to another Imperial who had just walked in.
"Hey, Ash, feel free to come with us," Jessie said, indicating to himself, Stravers, and Fay. Ash nodded in acknowledgment and went to the armory. Inside was a large assortment of guns and grenades. Smiling to himself, he picked up a sniper rifle, dual plasma pistols, several spoke grenades, and a M-28 Submachine gun. He was admiring the new sniper rifle when another Imperial walked in, evidently ready to go out on patrol.
"Man, this thing is a beauty," Ash said, looking through the scope.
"Yeah. Might need some calibration. These things went through some tough stuff on the way down." The soldier picked up a rifle, several grenades, and a sidearm.
Ash walked outside of the armory, twiddling some of the knobs and checking in every now and then.
"Hey, you chose the 108mm sniper rifle. It's a beast, reduced kick, high impact and armor piercing. Tank armor doesn't stand a chance," Stravers said as Ash pulled up next to their squad.
"Well, I am the sniper."
"Alright boys, cut the chatter," Jessie said, "Today we are known as Tango Squad. Ash, you will replace Rookie and be referred as Tango four, got that?"
"Copy that, sir." Ash strapped the sniper rifle to his back and picked up his M-28. Jessie brought up a map of the area with his holopad, "Today we are going to search through this area right here"-- a series of crumbled buildings lit up red--"to look for anyone we know. However, if it's not wearing a black body suit or a meat shell or civie or personnel clothes, slot it."
Ash dismissed the common phrase "meat shell" as it was commonly used by the Imperial soldiers to tease the highly protective but bulky armor that the ARMS marines wore.
"Tango two, stick with four, three, come with me." A chorus of 'copy that' echoed in Ash's comm and they moved out. Stravers, who was Tango 2, was slightly ahead of him, scanning his rifle left and right. Ash covered his back, checking each crevice twice before moving on. They turned a corner and ran into a solid wall of debris. After a fruitless search for an alternative route, Stravers threw a spoke grenade near the foot of the wall and with a muffled whoomp, a path was cleared supported by a web of silver strands resembling a 21st century sculpture.
Stravers moved forward into the shadowy depths of the building with Ash close on his heels. A few rays of sunlight filtered through the mish mash of overhead debris to light up the dusty air. Stravers suddenly stopped.
"Check biosignitures, I'm picking up a fair bit of heat in this general area."
Ash flipped on the scanner in his helmet and the area turned green, "Nope, not a living thing in this area."
Stravers lowered his gun and headed deeper into the building.
As Ash entered the room behind Stravers he saw what would have cuased the heat. An escape pod had crashed through the cieling and lodged itself overhead, and a large tear in the outer armor was dripping nanites onto the stone below, and a lot of them. Quite literally the floor was covered in a black sheet of movement. Ash stepped back in shock.
Stravers however kneeled and shoved his right hand into the black mass, allowing the machines to crawl over his body suit and onto his body.
"They, they're afraid..." Stravers muttered.
"What's that?" Ash asked.
"Something came here before us. I don't know what," Stravers replied, "they say beings of great power."
"Well, let's check inside." Ash stepped into the sea of nanites and sank right up to his knees. He waded towards the pod and curled his fingers into the tear, ripping the pod open. More nanites gushed out all over him. As soon as the stream stopped, the sea of nanites around him shrank away, leaving him standing in a patch of floor. Ash thought wildly about Moses and the Red Sea for a moment before peering inside. He felt his stomach lurch as he smelled dead bodies. He flicked on night vision and saw twisted and mangled bodies stretched out. A steady red drip came from the ceiling. Ash looked up and quickly pulled away, tearing his helmet off in the process. He bent over, his hands on his knees as Stravers walked by him to peer in. As he did so, Ash's dismal breakfast came up and out. "Ugh, that actually tasted better on the way out," he gasped out.
"You get used to it," said Stravers, absentmindedly, "and that was just nasty."
Ash readied himself for a second glance and peered in with Stravers. There was human skin stretched out on top of the pod as if it was drying out. The owner's face was still contorted in a scream, and it's skeleton was laying in a heap on the floor. The organs were glistening sickly in the dim light. Stravers quickly disappeared and Ash heard a splashing sound as another upset stomach was emptied. Ash turned to him and pulled his helmet back on. Stravers took deep breaths before wiping his mouth on the back of his sleeves. "All right, let's go."
Finally, dusk arrived. No survivors were found. Instead, there were more than millions of distressed nanites found, often swarming about the pods. Ash and several Imperials held a small meeting about this.
"So, what did the nanites say about these, 'beings?'" asked Emmet.
"They were afraid of this area," said an Imperial, whom Fay addressed as Luther, as he pointed at a series of collapsed buildings. These looked more destroyed from what seemed like erratic landing. "Curiously, there aren't any nanites found in this area. The people found in those pods had vanished, though a message written in blood was on the window."
"What was the message?"
"Remember the Pheonix." Ash got a chill. The other Imperials cast terrified looks to each other.
"That virus couldn't have possibly come here, could it?" Ash asked, "I mean, no one in the galaxy has ever seen a virus like that infect anyone, so we don't know what the scene would look like."
"Everyone except Lieutenant General Peter Jackson," Luther corrected, "even so, there's no way we can get him over here. He's probably taking out some more biohazard somewhere else. Like the numert threat."
"We just need more time to talk with the nanites. That's one of the only ways to find out," Emmet said, "In the meantime, instruct all soldiers and personnel to stay out of the area until further notice."
"Yes, sir," chorused the men around the table.
"Meeting adjourned." Emmet declared before leaving the mess hall.
The Imperials left the hall in small groups, all discussing the cryptic message. Ash followed one particular group, one with a logistics officer.
"You know, I worked with the nanites on the Genisis project and I tell you. Nothing scares nanites like what did here." Ash overheard the officer saying.
"Yeah and what's up with the Pheonix, I thought it and all informaiton regarding it was lost to the winds. No more than a tall tale." one beside him asked.
"Oh I assure you, the Pheonix was, is very real. The crew's last action was to enter warp without coordinates. It tossed the ship into another galaxy before the tracking beacon finally fell silent."
Ash strode up to them. The Imperials looked at him and the officer said, "You're in ARMS. Why don't you tell us what happened on the Pheonix?"
Ash sighed and said, "The Pheonix landed on Veranda only to find that the planet was devoid of human life. The colony placed there had vanished without a trace. Marines sent onto the surface were attacked by zombie-like creatures."
"And they got aboard the Pheonix?"
"Yes. A Corporal was bitten before pulling out. He infected the rest of the crew. The only survivor was Peter Jackson, a Private at the time."
"He slugged it out in that ship?"
"Yeah. Wasted tons of ammo there. The bullets did nothing to them. He used a mechanic's blowtorch and a plasma trench gun. Jumped ship before sending it off to warp."
"A blowtorch?" The Imperial tripped and caught himself, incredulity written all over his face.
"Yeah. Oh yeah, shot guns work, too. Rip off body parts at point blank range. Of course you aim for the torso and head."
"Wow. He's got guts." Ash and the Imperials fell silent for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.
Finally one of the Imperials piped up, "Is there anyway that he might have been immune to the pheonix virus?"
Ash thought about the possibilities, then said, "He might. He wasn't bitten at all, as he used a blowtorch to keep them away. He could be lucky, or he might just be pure immune."
Clap clap, "Alright boys, enough chit-chat! We have a long day tomorrow and each and every one of you should get a good night's sleep before the sun comes out!" Yelled Emmet, clapping his hands to get their attention. Ash grumbled and walked off towards his cot, unstrapping his armor as he did so. He lay down on his cot and drew up his covers. In the silence, a young Imperial on the other side of the tent voiced out what every single man in the tent was thinking about: "What does the Pheonix have to do with this?"
After a rather sleepless night for everyone, the survivors woke up into a very dark fog. Night guards were turning in, bags under their eyes and moving clumsily, often missing their mouths with their spoon at breakfast. Ash rubbed his eyes in a desperate attempt to wake up fully. Even Stravers wasn't his buoyant, happy self. Jessie plopped down next to Ash and failing to stifle a yawn, "N-n-never should have talked about the Pheonix before bed, eh?"
"Yep. Now I know how it feels to be a zombie."
"Well, better off than those guys," Luther said, sliding in across from Ash while jerking his thumb at the now departing Night Guards. Emmet was still his back-straight, statue-faced soldier at the front of the cafeteria, munching on a ration bar.
"Here, Sergeant!" said a Imperial, handing a datapad to Jessie. Jessie scanned it over and said, "Lookie here, we have guard duty today at the shield perimeter. Don't have to go outside. And we have a short 15 minute down-time at 13:00."
"Great. I'm going to see Hunter now." Ash pushed away from the table and was surprised that his tray was empty. Thinking about eating something spicy to wake his taste buds up, he walked out of the mess hall and strode over to the hospital tent. Many of the injured Imperials were now sitting up and eating, while some were walking to test their locomotion skills. Three, however, were still immobile. Ash walked over and found Hunter sitting down, reading from his datapad. The other two were heavily bandaged and not moving.
"How's it going?" Hunter looked up and Ash realized that Hunter's left eye was milky white; he was blind.
"Bad. I lost too much blood the first day and fell unconscious. After a unfortunate turn of events, I lost vision in my left eye. The medics have no idea what's going on, because my leg ain't healing at the usual speed, either." Hunter pulled the sheets back and showed him his leg in a splint. "Might even have to amputate it and get a prosthetic leg."
A medic bustled over and checked on the bandages. She looked over and said, "I'm gonna change his bandages, okay?"
Ash nodded and Hunter suddenly grinned. He said, "If you see my leg and your stomach hates the sight, put your helmet on and keep it to yourself."
"Ha ha, funny." The medic unwrapped the bandages and yelled, scrambling backwards. Ash dashed forward and was horrified to see that the leg was coated in large, black insect like creatures. On closer inspection, they appeared to be large nanites.
"Shoo! Shoo!" Hunter frantically swiped at them causing them to scatter and disappear. Finally, they could see that the leg had large, black veins just under the skin around the wound and the leg was just mangled flesh and bones.
Ash turned around and barfed into a basin nearby. Despite the attempted humor earlier, Hunter wasn't smiling at Ash's reaction. Instead, he was staring in horror at his twisted leg. The medic let out a shaky breath and said, "looks like we're going to have to amputate it."
The medic hesitantly prodded the leg asking if Hunter felt anything.
Hunter shook his head.
The medic shook slightly before calling over another with a fusion torch. She bent down and began to cut at his leg, slowly working the heated blade through the blackened part of the leg. In a few seconds, the process was over and Hunter stared at the detatched leg, oozing what seemed like motor oil from the veins. It was black and sticky, oozing in strands at the wound. And then it jumped.
The puddle leaped through the air and reattached itself to Hunters stub, quickly sewing it together. In less time than it took to amputate it, the leg was back on looking as if it had never been so much as touched.
"That's new." was all Hunter could say as he watched in bewilderment.
The medics stared, unsure what to do. Then one finally said, "Marine, you'd better get on with your duties. I'm afraid we'll also have to move the other patients to another area. This is going to get messy."
Ash nodded and walked out, his heart heavy. He walked over to the perimeter where Tango squad was waiting. Fay turned to him as he approached, "So, how's the Captain?"
"Not good. The medics have no idea what is going on in his body. They just amputated his leg and black fluids from the wound reattached the leg."
Fay looked sickened, "That's nasty."
Ash shrugged and he and Fay turned back to the shields. The purple pink glow shaded everything beyond the shield, giving the rubble a rather comical look. Nothing exciting happened while they were there. They passed the time playing Ispy, a usual game that marines played in secure private comm channels when marching or hours of complete boredom.
Finally, around 16:30, something exciting finally happened.
"I spy with my little eye... something pin--" Fay began to say for the umpteenth time.
"Shield," interrupted Ash for the umpteenth time. Ash scanned the landscape worth spying for when something caught his eye. There was movement out there.
"Hey, did you guys see that?" Ash asked Fay.
"See what?"
"It was like this flash of blue light and then movement or something." Ash grumbled.
At 16:43, a Imperial soldier stumbled out of the rubble, bleeding from several cuts on his face. "Open the shield! Open the shield!"
Jessie pushed the switch forward, turning the shield down. The soldier stumbled in and fell. Jessie quickly pulled the switch back. Ash, Fay, and Stravers sprinted to the immobile soldier. Ash reached him first and turned him over, and was shocked to see a familiar face: Luther. Luther's eyes were bright and insane looking. Instead of greeting his allies like friends, he attempted to strangle Ash. Fay and Stravers pinned his arms to the ground and Luther began to attack them as well. Ash loaded a tranquilizer dart into his rifle and fired several rounds into Luther, just enough so that he couldn't move. Luther stopped struggling and fell back, breathing heavily. Ash grabbed him by the shoulders and yelled into his face, "Luther! Are you okay? Speak to me!"
Luther's eyes showed no recognition. He suddenly jerked and screamed, "EVERYWHERE! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! SPAWNS OF DEVIL ARE HERE!"
"Luther?" Stravers said, weakly. "Where is your partner?"
"THERE! THERE!!" Luther screamed in a frantic voice. He was pointing at Jessie, who was next to the perimeter, scanning for any assailants. Ash checked Luther's eyes again and saw that they were unfocused. He wasn't looking at Jessie. "THEY SWALLOWED HIM! I THOUGHT THEY WERE FRIENDS!"
"What is going on out there?" came a yell. A squad of Imperials were moving toward them.
"I dunno. Luther's going crazy. I think he's... insane." The Imperials took one look at Luther and then roughly grabbed him. Ash watched them drag Luther, who was still spitting out cryptic messages, to the medical tent. Sounds of blaster fire reached their ears and they spun around. Jessie was shooting at something just beyond their field of vision. The group sprinted to their Sergeant's side in time to see him put a perfectly aimed plasma bolt through a Imperial soldier's head.
"Why'd you shoot him for, Sarge?" Fay said, looking at the dead body.
"He was walkin' funny. And my HUD told me he was a Nayo, but the nanites were, well, green."
"A corrupted Nayo? What here can possibly corrupt a nanite?"
"I dunno." Ash looked between the two before asking, "Am I missing something here? What the hell is a Nayo?"
Jessie looked at him, "N.A.O. means Nanite Augmented Organism. Nayo is just another way of saying it."
"Healthy ones grow blue, defected or oddballs glow green, and this fella over here has a lot of greens," Stravers put in.
Ash nodded. He sighted up on his sniper rifle and saw green specks fleeing the current vicinity through his scope. "Yep, that's a lot of them."
Emmet strode over to the shield. "Alright boys. In an attempt to get to the bottom of this, I want a investigation crew to move out and search the quarantined area. You four are going to join in."
Ash gulped, pleased that the Sergeant couldn't look through visors. Emmet looked at them and yelled, "Is that clear?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
Ash's breathing quickly returned to normal. The ceiling of debris had almost collapsed on him and his squad. Ash turned back to the squad and said, "that was WAY to close. Let's try not to do that again."
"Agreed." Jessie made several hand motions, indicating that the squad split up to it's original teams. Once again, Stravers and Ash ran one way while the other two ran the other. Ash poked and prodded some of the debris piles nearby. Stravers had wandered into a dessicated skyscraper. The internal skeleton of the building was still standing, rods falling away every now and then and then stabbing into the ground with a dangerous ring. Ash jumped across some debris piles toward him, "Hey, Stravers! I don't think anyone's here! Let's head on back!"
Stravers nodded and started walking toward him. Suddenly, with a loud screech, the top of the skyscraper ripped away and fell. Supports and internal skeleton pieces fell from the sky. Ash saw Stravers disappear into the dust cloud. Ash sprinted towards the collapsed building yelling at the top of his lungs. He skidded to a halt as a sliver of metal stabbed the ground between him and dust cloud. He looked up and noticed shredded metal was falling down. As he did so, he heard a piteous, thin scream of agony in the cloud. Ash snapped back into action and sprinted into the cloud, completely ignoring the fact that he could be speared at any given moment. He ran left and right, looking for his partner, until he finally found him. Ash dropped to his knees as he saw his comrade on the ground, dead, with a long, shredded piece of metal impaled through his abdomen. The other end was stuck in the ground, giving Ash the impression of a insect speared on a needle in the museums. His face was still contorted in pain and blood was still dribbling out of his mouth. However, the rest of him was limp, his blank eyes staring at nothing. Ash reached over and slid the man's eyelids closed and ripped the metal out of Stravers. He reached down, took the ID tag and his helmet for a memory to take back to the squad.
Ash turned away from the body, pulling his spade out to dig a small grave for Stravers. Suddenly, rubble could be heard shifting, right behind him. He whipped around, his sidearm raised. Stravers's body was standing up, his head lolling eerily. Ash looked down and saw hundreds of blue nanites swarming up and down his body. His eyes glowed eirily and his mouth dropped open, letting loose a deathly rattle. Slowly blue lines spread around his body, as if drawn by an invisable hand. Each line was straight, intersecting perpendicular with another line all leading up to a perfect circle of glowing blue on his forehead.
He opened and closed his mouth again and stepped forward, arms outstretched, his hands grasping the air as if something only he could see was there. Ash recoiled in horror.
"What? What are you!?" he yelled, throwing away the side arm and lifted up his sniper rifle at Stravers.
"No wait, don't shoot." he rasped in a dry voice, liked someone who had not drunk a fluid in years.
"Huh, wha-"
"Please just listen."
"Who are you!?" Ash demanded, tightening his grip on the rifle, "Tell me now!"
"Stravers Ash, It's Stravers." he said, holding his arms up in a sort of surrender. His eyes rolled back down, showing an iris that glowed of such intensity that it swallowed the rest of the eye, some of the light even pouring out.
Ash looked down and up, scanning the body with his headset, the wound was gone. A diagram materialised on the H.U.D. in text it showed: Class 20 N.A.O., Class 15 Psionic Waveform, Threat Level: Unrecorded, Action: Unknown
Stravers took a step forward, and when his foot touched the ground, the same mechanical blue lines streaked across the dusty concrete the same way it had drawn itself over his body.
"St-stay back!" Ash roared, firing a barrage of round into Stravers, who stood unfazed.
The bullets had not even hit him, they hovered in the air aorund him slowly revolving around his head.
Ash was breathing heavily and erratically, stepping back until he hit the debris behind him. "WHAT ARE YOU!?"
He opened his mouth and spoke again, this time in a strong melodeous voice that boomed and echoed in the enclosed area, "We have revived him. This Stravers as you call him." Stravers body lifted off for a minute hovering in the air before landing again, "We have unlocked and modified parts of his brain and body to match those of the greatest psychics and heroes in history. In return, he must house us." The last word resonated deeply in the debris field, shaking dust from the ceiling.
"Who are you!"
"A collection of nanites, it is so very rare for us to be able to manifest, and when we do it is very difficult for us to be compatible to a organic."
"Your- You! Nanites are not suppose to be able to do this! They aren't sentient!" Ash gasped, eyes widening even further as Stravers, the nanites shot out a brief flash of energy, setting the entire building a bright dazzling blue.
A chittering roared from the walls so loud that it was unbearable. And in a bright flash, so powerful that Ash had to close his eyes even behind the UV shielding of his visor.
Moments later when he opened them, the building was reconstructed, sparkling as if new. The debris was gone and bright lights hanging from the newly contructed roof illuminated the lobby of the apartment complex. Ash gasped, the air was pure, free of the choking dust that happened to be there moments ago.
"Stravers!?" he called out, seeing a body lying on the floor of the building in a heap. Ash bent over and picked him up.
"Damnit, what happened." Stravers managed to mutter before falling back into deep unconciousness.
"Tango 2, Tango 4, come in! What the fuck is happening back there!" Jessie's voice tore suddenly into Ash's headset.
"Tango 1 here, you'd never guess what'd just happened." Ash answered in a hushed whisper.
"Got anything to do with the entire district turning blue and recontructing itself?"
"Yeah..."
"We're heading to your location, sit tight!"
"Tango 4, are you okay?"
Ash jolted awake, partially because he had dozed off waiting for them, and he was slightly jumpy after his encounter with the... well, zombie, to simply put it. Jessie was standing over him, while Fay had pulled out his med kit and was scanning Stravers over.
"Ugh... I feel sick," Stravers mumbled. He turned over and spit a black, gooey substance from his mouth and coughed. Ash helped him up and the squad looked at their new surroundings. Ash looked at him and saw him literally light up blue in his HUD.
"That's a lot of nanites," he commented, "Nice, bright target for our enemies if they can pick up nanite signatures."
"Aww shut up," Fay replied, "He's had enough today. Let's head back."
Jessie motioned for them to follow him. Stravers picked up his rifle, steadied himself, and nodded to the rest of them, indicating he was okay. Ash sighted up on his sniper rifle and sprinted down the newly constructed streets of Ennex. Jessie and Stravers were outlined blue, while Fay's position, who was behind Ash, was marked with a blue arrow on the side of Ash's visor along with his designated squad number, T-3. The HUD was a lot similar to the Imperials because the AI installed was made by the same company. While this AI doesn't talk, it does everything else a soldier needs.
"Tango 3, 4, take point." Ash saw the bright green marker placed on the ground by Jessie on his HUD. Ash didn't know what had made Jessie nervous, but he sprinted to the green marker. Fay crouched behind a working fountain just ahead of Ash. Jessie and Stravers took position by the building where Ash and Fay were scanning around.
"All clear," Fay growled. "Wait. I'm picking up something."
Ash's HUD detected the same thing. A figure moving weirdly was stumbling towards them. It was behind some buildings so it was just the outline.
and develop a personality for him.
