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-- File: Shadows.txt
Matrix Dragon Presents.....
A NERV Production.....
Shadows
Part One
(This Disclaimer will not work, due to the Y2K bug)
[Times, Dates and Locations]
"Talking in Japanese"
"+Talking in Amazon+"
"{Talking in English}"
<Thinking>
(1) Footnote at end of section.
Unless stated, all times and dates shown are Japanese time.
***
[Nerima Time: 10:30 pm, July 13, 1999]
[Local Time: 11:30 am, July 13, 1999]
[London]
Storm looked down into the warehouse. "{Looks about right,}" he
said to himself. Pentagram, words of magic, human sacrifice to the
Chaos God Khorne.... Storm only wished they'd made it in time to
prevent that. "{Looks like the summoning is almost completed...
Squad, commence attack!}" Storm jumped through the window, landing on
a stack of crates. Nova and Yang followed, while Tank remained in a
sniper spot. Storm leveled his Plasma Pistol (1) at the lead cultist.
"{Nobody move,}" he growled.
"{Kill them!}" the man screamed, and the cultists charged
forward, daggers in their hands.
<Couldn't expect servants of the blood god to be civil now,
could you?> Storm thought. "{Take 'em down!}" he yelled, opening
fire. The first wave of cultists never got close, the plasma balls
and explosive bolts cutting them down. The second wave did however,
and the squad began the messy job of close combat.
From the warehouse roof, Tank sniped at those he had a clear
shot at. Then a red glow began to catch his attention. He glanced at
the pentagram. Sure enough, it was glowing, and the glow was growing
stronger in time to the dead cultists. "{Shit! Storm, sacrifice
situation!}"
The squad changed tatics instantly, knocking cultists
unconcious. A Sacrifice situation in demon summoning meant that each
death would count towards the summoning of the demon. The fact it
hadn't appeared yet meant that it was very powerful, and something
that none of the squad wanted to deal with.
Suddenly, several of the cultists used their daggers to slit
their own throats. Storm swore, and the pentegram exploded in a blast
of Warp energy.
As the energies faded, it revealed a huge demon, one that Storm
had seen images of, and prayed never to see in person. It was almost
five metres in height, skin the colour of blood. Its legs decended
into hoofs, and giant leathery wings. Large horns emerged from it's
head, blending well with the dark metal chest plate covered in
symbols of Khorne. In one hand it held a large axe, in the other a
deadly whip.
It was the Greater Demon of Khorne. It was the Bloodthirster.
"{Our God Khorne has blessed us!}" The lead cultist screamed.
"{With him, we shall create a new age, the Age of Chaos!}"
Bellowing like a mad bull, the Bloodthirster cleaved the man in
half with his axe. Then it turned on the other cultists.
Standing back from the carnage, Storm and his men reloaded
their weapons. "{This is Squad Katana! We have a Bloodthirster at
our location! Require assistance now!}" Storm yelled into his
headset.
"{Here it comes!}" Nova yelled.
The trio leapt away from the Bloodthirster's first attack, the
axe and whip barely missing. Storm bounced off the wall and over the
demons head, plasma balls leaping from his pistol. Tank fired another
round, only to see it bounce off the demon's chest plate. Muttering
to himself, he pulled his sword from it's sheath and moved in.
Nova opened fire with his Boltgun (2), several rounds actually
managing to hurt it slightly. He leapt away from it once again,
knowing that his only chance was in long-distance combat.
Suddenly a ki-sphere slammed into it's head. Everyone looked up
to see six more Omega Soldiers standing there, one of them with a
visible battle aura. Storm grinned, then shot another plasma ball at
the Bloodthirster while it was distraced.
The demon spun around to attack Storm, but was hit in the back
as Tank slashed at it with his magic sword. Bellowing in anger, the
demon backhanded Tank, sending him flying into a stack of crates.
The other squads sergeant, a man by the name of Robert Walker,
opened fire. As the Bloodthirster staggered back from the soldiers,
Walker turned to the one with the battle aura. "{Ray, do it!}"
Ray pulled his arm back, a ball of golden ki forming in his
hand. "{Soul Grenade!}" he yelled as he threw it forward, and it
collided with the demon, detonating in a huge explosion. When the
smoke cleared, the demon was gone. "{No way!}" Ray exclaimed.
"{There's no way that one blast could have sent it back to the
warp.}" He looked down at Squad Katana. "{Are you sure you wern't
pounding on it before we got here?}"
Nova's eyes widened. "{Behind you!}" He yelled.
"{Huh?}" Ray turned around, only to be caught in a bear-hug by
the Bloodthirster, who then leapt through the roof.
"{Sneaky bugger,}" Nova said, as Tank took aim with his sniper
rifle. "{Are you mad? What if you hit Ray?}"
"{I won't,}" Tank said.
"{Hold up Tank,}" Storm said. "{I think the Bloodthirster is
about to get an unpleasant surprise.}"
Several hundred metres above them, Ray was in a bad mood.
"{Okay pal, you asked for it!}" A Blood-Red aura came into existance
around his body as his strength and speed doubled. Breaking free of
the demons grip, he delivered a devestating uppercut to it's face. It
spun out of control for a few seconds, before regaining it's balance
and focusing on Ray, who hovered in midair, the aura still surrounding his
body.
"{Now!}" Ray yelled into his headset, and a barrage of
weapons fire hit the Bloodthirster from below. Then the weapons fire
stopped. The Bloodthirster looked down in surprise, only to have
Storm hit it in the jaw. Ray joined in, slamming both his fists into
it's stomach, before grabbing it and throwing it towards the ground.
As it fell, the pair were right behind it, ready to strike again if
need be.
They didn't have to worry. In a flash of Warp Energy, it left
reality, pulled back to the hellish realm that spawned it. Storm and
Ray, both experienced with such falls, landed safely. "{I've never
heard of a demon of Khorne giving up,}" Ray said as the others walked
up to them.
"{Maybe Khorne himself pulled it back,}" Storm said, "{to say
just how disapointed it was by the fact a Greater Demon was getting
beaten up by a few mortals.}"
"{I almost feel sorry for the poor blighter.}" Nova muttered.
"{Almost, but not quite.}" Yang said.
(1) Plasma Weapons: All current man-made Plasma weapons are
based off technology from the 41st millennium. These weapons use
highly energised hydrogen converted to plasma. The plasma balls are
molten gas fired at high speed that explode on impact. Sadly, the
current form of Plasma weaponry is very unstable and will occasionly
overheat which can result in the weapon blowing up and easily taking
the poor bugger holding the gun with it. X-COM is rumored to have
created a form of plasma weapon that doesn't suffer from overheating.
(2) Bolt Weapons: Bolt weapons fire small missiles known as
Bolts. Also based off 41st millennium technology, it is a commonly
used weapon by Omega Sector and X-COM.
***
[Nerima time: 1:30am, July 14, 1999]
[Planet Attlian, City of Caore]
In the far future that Steve Schofield came from, the planet
Attlian was colonised by humans. Some of the best horsemen in the
galaxy came from this planet. He, like the rest of the group that had
been sent back in time 40,000 years, had been surprised to learn that
once, the planet had been occupied by a humanoid species, quite
similar except for a thin covering of light brown fur and the ability
to communicate telepathically as well as vocally. A real benefit for
inter-species communication, especially considering that it was
impossible for humans to pronounce the Attlian language at all.
Like Earth, the natives of Attlian had created an organisation
that kept the truths of things such as magic and the Warp secret.
Once they were able to travel between solar systems with the use of
Warp Engines, they had established a strong force throughout nearby
solar systems, in order to protect the first colonists.
Then, they made the 'new' discovery of Warp travel. As their
race expanded off world, they had slowly revealed the organisation
and what had really happenned.
<What worked for them should work for us,> Steve thought as the
Antigravity transport landed in front of Government House. A security
escort led him to the office of the Theroth, which roughly translated
as 'ruler of the minds.'
<Founder Schofield, it is a pleasure to meet you again,
although I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances,> the
Theroth 'said.' He was around six foot two, and looked like a small
wookie, except the face seemed much more human.
"{Indeed Theroth. Although I must wonder why you requested my
presense.}"
<Because several events over the past few days has led to a
state in which war could break out at any moment. Please, take a look
at this recording. It was made by a security camera at a bar in the
southern end of the city.>
A holographic image appeared on the top of the Theroth's desk.
The image showed a fairly normal bar anywhere in the galaxy. Several
Attlians and a human sat around relaxing. Suddenly the doors were
blown open by a blast of automatic weapons fire.
A large figure stepped through the door. His body was covered
by large bulky armour, some sort of autocannon grafted to the armours
right arm. In his left hand he held a sword with sparks of dark
energy running along it.
The figure wasted no time, mowing down several of the Attlians
with the Autocannon. The human leapt to his feet, pulling a small
pistol from the confines of his jacket.
Steve knew the desgin of the weapon. A Laspistol, Cadian (1)
design. Looked like it was pretty new. The man didn't stand a chance
against the attacker.
A laser blast hit one of the attackers shoulder plates with no
effect at all. In return the man was cut down by the attackers sword.
The atacker quickly killed the rest of the bar's patrons, then
turned to the camera. The attacker had a human face, one Steve would
have expected from something out of a Conan the Barbarian comic. The
man gave a feral smile, then shot out the camera.
Steve frowned. "{He knew the camera was there all along.}"
<Indeed. There have been five other incidents like this over
the past week by this man. To make matters worse, our planets news
services have managed to aquire a copy of this holo-tape. Many people
are panicing over this. And several contenders for my position are
attempting to use this to overthrow me.>
"{Despite human involvement, this is still an internal affair.
Omega Sector can not become involved in this without due cause.}"
<Are you familar with the Senator known as Asural?> Theroth
asked.
"{I've read his file. Intense hatred of any non-Attlians,
suspected conections with several right-wing groups on the Attlian
planets.}"
<He has been promoting eradicating the human threat once and
for all. While normally no one pays him any mind, the current
situation has increased his popularity.>
Steve nodded. "{And he could possibly gain the throne? From
there he'd start a war as soon as possible. I think Omega Sector can
become involved.}"
<We'll provide everything you need,> Theroth replied.
(1) Cadia: First Human Off-world colony. Founded in 1986.
Currently has a population of 1,500,000. Large numbers of shadow
walkers.
***
[2:30am]
[Attlian Webway Complex]
The Attlian Webway Complex housed this planets Webway portal.
When the Attlians learnt of the Webway's ability for interplanetary
travel by use of safe 'tunnels' through the hellish dimension known
as the Warp, they had made good use of it. Thankfully, the Eldar were
letting them get away with it for now, and the Dark Eldar hadn't
found them yet.
Steve noted that the complex was built like most of the
buildings on this planet. Marble. Lots of marble.
Wandering the civilian halls, he found his squad in one of the
cafeterias. Like Steve, all the members of the Catachan Devils were
from forty-thousand years into the future. Born and raised on the
death-world of Catachan, each and every had been recruited into the
Imperial Guard, and sent to battle on far off worlds in the name of
the Emperor.
Time had reduced their numbers until there was only thirteen
left, on that fateful day when they had been torn out of reality and
dumped on Earth in the year 1903. While they, and all the others that
came back with them, no longer aged, they could still die. One of
them had in WWII, and another had died in the sixties, while they
were exterminating a Chaos cult.
Ferrick, the teams communications expert, gulped down the last
of his beer as Steve approached. "{Hi boss. So what are we here
for?}"
"{We're here to stop a war,}" he replied. "{Meet me in my room
in half an hour.}"
***
[3:00am]
Steve hit a button, pausing the recording. "{Because of this
and several other events like it, Anti-human groups are gaining
support across the planet. To make matters worse, a senator that
hates everything non-Attlian is gaining support. If he manages to
seize the Attlian throne, there's a very good chance of a war between
Earth and Attlian.}"
"{It'd be a slaughter,}" Mike Mackray said. "{20th century
Earth doesn't have the resources to fight them off.}"
Steve nodded. "{We're still having a hard time dealing with the
Unknown Invaders. A second space navy attacking us is not what we
need.)"
"{I think Chaos might be behind this,}" Ferrick said. "{I'm
sure I'm not the only one that noticed the markings on the armour.}"
Everyone else muttered their agreement.
"{It's not just the armours markings that indicate Chaos
involvement,}" Steve said. "{The armor is Imperial Terminator Armour,
something that won't be invented until the Great Crusade, thirty
thousand years from now.}"
"{They say the Chaos gods can reach through time,}" Robert
Brightwater commented. "{Not surprising considering how they live in
the Warp, and we all know how that dimension distorts time.}"
"{The Chaos Gods bring one of their servants back in time at
least thirty-thousand years?}" Mike said. "{Just to start a small
war? It doen't make sense.}"
"{Nothing makes sense with those four demons,}" Steve said.
"{The local authorities are collecting all information of potential
Chaos supporters. Ferrick, take the Webway back to Earth and see if
we can get some more men here. Mike, give your Sentinel a once
over, we might need it.}"
***
[7:30am]
[Jusenkyo]
The flood waters which had recently done so much damage to this
legendary area were finally gone, and the cursed training grounds had
returned to normal. Today, there was only one man there, the guide
and his daughter still on holiday.
The man balanced on one of the poles sticking out of a spring,
hands cupped together, a sphere of ki in between them. "Mouko....
TAKABISHA!!" he yelled, as a huge beam of power was released from his
hands. Air near the blast burned as the man twisted, changing the
direction of the blast. The beam curved, flying along the edge of the
accursed springs. He altered the course of the beam once again, and
now it was flying back towards him. Bracing himself, he met the blast
head on, letting it impact against his chest. His white gi began to
blacken and burn under the onslaught.
The blast continued, until the man heard a sound, one he could
barely hear. The sound of the bamboo pole snapping. "+Damn!+" he
yelled, leaping to safety on the ground nearby. The blast impacted
with the spring of Drowned Dog, increasing the depth of the spring.
The man tossed his brown and blond ponytail over his shoulder.
<That was too close,> he thought to himself. But then again, a curse
was the challenge of training at Jusenkyo.
"+Kal!+" an annoyed female voice yelled out. The man turned to
see a young woman walking towards him, staying as far away from the
springs as possible.
"+What's up Per Fum?+" he asked as she approached.
"+Do you always have to pick the craziest locations to train?+"
"+Comes naturally to me, my dear sister-in-law,+" Kal replied.
He smirked. "+After all, am I not the legendary Kal Jerico, one of
the Founders of Omega Sector?+"
"+Lose the ego brother, is just isn't you,+" Per Fum replied.
"+Now can we get out of here? Ever since your daugher was cursed,
this place....+" Her voice trailed off.
"+Sure thing. I was getting hungry anyway.+" Kal pretended to
ignore the second sentence. He still didn't like to think of his
daughter being cursed.
***
[10:30am]
[Dark side of the moon.]
Outside of the shadows, it was 'known' that very few people
went into outer space. All of them were members of NASA or it's
Russian counterpart.
They were wrong. For over twenty years the organisation known
as Omega Sector had been building up a starship fleet, using
technology from across the galaxy, from across the multiverse.
This fleet usually stayed hidden, where no eyes on Earth could
see them. One of these hidden locations was the Lunar Shipyards,
located on the Dark Side of the moon, where no one on Earth had a
chance to see it.
Which was a shame really, considering that any science fiction
fan would love what was going on up there at that vey instant.
The YF-19 flew low over the lunar craters, using them for cover
against the enemy fire. Behind him, several UFO's tried their best to
destroy him.
Inside the cockpit, Gavin Younger smiled. "{Sorry uglies, but
it's going to take more then that to stop the commander of Rogue
Squadron.}" With that, he pulled the lever marked B.
The Veritech changed into it's Battloid mode and, with a quick
burst from it's boot jets, lifted itself over the top of the small
scout-class UFO's, spraying them with laser fire.
Gavin quickly made his way back towards the shipyards. The
attack had come without warning, and many of the defenses were unable
to activate. It was only through pure luck that an Eldar fleet was in
to resupply, and it's escort fighter craft included Rogue Squadron,
the only Veritech fighters in the galaxy.
"{Rouges, this is Rogue Leader. Status.}" He listened to the
reports from the rest of his squad. "{All right then. Rogue two,
Rogue Seven, get those bomber craft off the _Vengence's_ back. Rogue
Six and Eight, see if you can do some damage to that Terror Ship
squadron. Try not to destroy them if possible, X-COM could make good
use of the parts.}"
"{What about us?}" Rogue Four, Jessica Carter, asked.
"{Split up and take down any lone fighters. Make sure nothing
heads for Earth.}" Changing into fighter mode again, he pulled up,
breaking a weapons lock on him. Dodging an overeager missile that had
lost it's target and decided to aim at the closet moving object, he
made a few new holes in a Havester. Changing to Gerwalk mode, he
opened fire on the Invader Battleship, only to see it's shields
withstand the attack.
Dodging yet another missile, he sent one of his own at the
Battleship, only to see it detonate harmlessly against it's shields.
Suddenly, the proximity sensors went berserk, and Gavin looked
to his left, spotting three large Scouts flying towards him, plasma
weapons blazing. The first one was destroyed by a laser blasting the
bridge apart, the next breached by the Power Fist that Gavins YF-19
was armed with.
Gavin twisted his mech to the side, watching the last Scout fly
past, before crippling it with a quick burst of fire aimed at the
engines. "{Bombers are gone boss,}" Rogue two said. "{The _Vengence_
is requesting that we fly cover for a Pulsar Lance attack on the
Battleship.}"
Gavin nodded. "{Okay Rogues, form up, Wedge formation.}" The
Veritechs returned to fighter formation, and flew ahead of the
_Vengence_, peppering the Invader Battleship with laser fire. As
expected, the shields withstood the attack, but they did distract the
weapon systems aboard the craft. Then the _Vengence_ opened fire. The
Pulsar Lance fired six times. The second shot blew a hole in the
shields. The forth crippled the battleship. But then again, the Eldar
had a habit of overkill.
The YF-19 returned to Battloid mode once more, firing from the
hip to draw a Terror Ship away from a Frigate. <The Battleship may be
gone, but this fight's nowhere near over,> Gavin thought to himself.
***
[12:30pm]
[Attlian Webway Complex]
Steve stood in front of the Webway portal. Like all Eldar
creations, it was covered with all sorts of runes and symbols. Steve
was the only human in the universe who could understand them. After
all, he was an Eldar. Sort of.
He smiled as he remembered that lifetime. In all fairness,
those two hundred years as a painter were among the best he'd ever
had.
The energy around the Webway flared for a second, then a number
of figures stepped through. Ferrick was the first one, the familar
Pokemon League baseball cap on his head. Four other figures were
standing behind him.
One of the figures, a sergeant, saluted. "{Founder Schofield.
Space Wolf Squad Katana reporting.}"
Steve returned the salute. "{At ease.}" He grinned. "{How are
you kid?}"
Daniel 'Storm' Schofield grinned. "{Not too bad considering.}"
He held up a small disk. "{Ragnar told me to bring you this as
well.}"
Steve took the disk. "{We've been given some rooms a few floors
down. Come on, I'll show you where they are.}"
***
[12:45pm]
Steve shut down the holo-projector. "{By the Golden Throne, is
it really that bad?}"
Storm nodded. "{I'm afraid so. The Invaders just keep on
coming. Unless we find where they're coming from, not even X-COM will
be able to stop them.}"
Steve looked at his son. "{What if Omega Sector and X-COM
joined forces?}"
"{To be honest, Omega and X-COM already have.}" Storm shrugged.
"{All we've managed to do is slow them down. But there is some good
news. Ragnar told me to inform you of this personally.}"
"{What is it?}"
"{Kyli's at the Splynn Dimensional Market, taking care of the
final details for the purchase of the Imperial Star Destroyers. With
luck, they should arrive in this universe by the end of the month.}"
Steve nodded. They had made a deal with the New Republic in one
universe to purchase five Star Destroyers, considering that the
Republic really had no use for them. Five Star Destroyers could make
a difference in the war against the mysterious invaders, who had
never been seen by anyone in the galaxy until their attacks on Earth
began eight months ago.
He reactivated the holo-projecter, and looked at the current
data on alien landings on Earth. "{At least none of the battleships
have made it Planetside yet,}" he said.
***
[Lunar Shipyards]
The YF-19 simply floated in space, looking down on the lunar
surface. The last of the Invaders had been sent running just over an
hour back. Two small ships made it to Earth, but both had been shot
down by X-COM Interceptors far away from prying eyes.
For now, Gavin was using the YF-19s advanced scanners to locate
the damage that Shipyard Control was having difficulty with. "{Okay,
what do we have here?}" he muttered to himself as he fiddled with
various controls. "{Looks like a cripped Abductor. Good thing we saw
that. WHAT THE FUCK?!}" The last sentence was a yell that got the
attention of the entire ground crew. Below him, the Abductor had made
a break for it, and the scans showed it wasn't crippled. In fact, it
wasn't even damaged. "{Control, this is Rogue Leader. We have an
Abductor heading towards Earth, I am in pursuit!}"
Kicking in the afterburners, Rogue Leader raced after the
small craft, weaving between the wreakage surrounding the shipyard.
Gavin tried to establish a target lock, but the alien pilot used the
debris to its advantage, blowing more things up and interferring with
the Veritech's scanners.
Flying around a particually large piece of the destroyed
Invader Battleship, Gavin lost sight of the Abductor. A glance at his
scanners showed the they too had lost it. "{Control, this is Rogue
Leader. Can anyone see him?}" Before anyone had a chance to reply, a
plasma blast smashed into the rear of the YF-19. The craft span out
of control, and Gavin switched to Gerwalk mode to regain stability.
Glancing at his status readings, he was grateful the shields his
craft had were taken from a X-wing rather then an A-wing. As it was,
they had barely withstood the attack.
As the Abductor flew towards Earth again, Gavin realised his
mistake. The craft had hid behind the wreckage as he flew around it,
then shot him in the back. Mad at himself for falling for such an
obvious trick, he resumed the chase.
***
[1:00pm]
[Joketsuzoku]
Kal Jerico stepped out of his house, admiring the sight of the
village. Everything was peaceful and quiet-
A loud explosion came from the direction of the quarry. Kal
revised his earlier thought. <Everything is peaceful and quiet,
except for the training ground where young amazons worthy of it are
receiving training in the breaking point.>
"+Good morning Kal,+" a familar voice said. Kal looked down to
his knee to see the familar figure of one of the villiage eldars.
"+Good morning Po Shin. I wasn't expecting to see you until the
meeting later today.+" Kal was the only man in the village, possibly
the entire country of China, that was treated by the Eldars as an
equal. He had managed to match Kuh Lon blow for blow for almost
twenty-four hours, until both of them had passed out from lack of
energy. His military skills were better then all of the Eldars
conbined. And being a Founder of Omega Sector meant he had a lot of
firepower on his side.
"+Just passing through to check if you were still coming to
that,+" Po Shin replied. Suddenly, a roaring sound came from above
them. Both of them looked up to see a fireball streak across the sky,
before crashing into the ground just over ten kilometers from the
village.
"+What was that? A meteor?+" Po Shin asked.
Kal shook his head. "+I know what to look for better then
you,+" he replied. "+I caught a glimpse of what was in the middle of
that fireball.+" A worried look appeared on his face. "+It was some
sort of space craft, one I haven't seen before.+"
***
Kal flew towards the crash site, his trench coat fanning out
behind him like a cape. He scanned the ground below him, watching for
anything out of the ordinary.
Just a kilometer from the craft, he spotted several Amazons
scattered across a small clearing in the forest. Quickly he landed,
looking for survivors. He only found one, a young girl in her teens.
He had seen her before. Her name was Lo Shin. <The same name as
my dead wife,> he thought. "Are you alright?" he asked as he helped
her to her feet.
"+I'll be fine. But what about the others?+"
"+All dead,+" Kal said sadly. Suddenly, a plasma blast hit his
shoulder, knocking him to the ground. Moving quickly, he pulled his
laspistols out of his pocket dimension and fired two shots into the
undergrowth. There was a choking sound, and a strange creature fell
to the ground dead.
Kal and Lo walked towards it. Kal examined the body quickly. It
looked like those little aliens from all those Sci-fi movies. (1)
<Those things exist? Where'd they come from?> "+Come on, we've got to
get back to the village.+"
The girl nodded, then looked up when a figure - human this
time - stumbled out of the bushes. "+Sister?+"
Kal scowled. How come he hadn't sensed her ki? Examining her a
bit closer, he realised why. Her ki was almost completely gone, and
another life force was slowly building. One that wasn't human.
Kal grabbed Lo Shin and leapt away, as the former human swung
wildly with her sword. Sending his laspistols back to their pocket
dimension, he charged up a small ki-sphere in his hand, then sent it
hurtling into the creature's chest, seemingly killing it.
"+You killed her!+" Lo Shin screamed.
"+Your sister was already dead,+" Kal replied. "+There was some
kind of parasite in her.... What in the Warp?+"
The body began to roll about on the ground, stretching and
twisting. The skin began to stretch, as if something was in the body
trying to get out. Out of the left arm burst a large, insect like
claw, the remains of the human arm nothing more then a thin layer of
skin and liquid. The chest and head burst open, followed by the
remaining parts of the body. What was left was some kind of black
humanoid insect pulling itself to it's feet (2). It turned to Kal and
Lo Shin and charged, claws shining in the morning sun.
Kal took to the sky, out of the creatures reach, then headed
for the village, his mind running over what he had just seen.
<Some sort of parasite. It infects a victim, which then mutates
into a new one. And it could probably do it with any creature big
enough.>
Which meant that there could be a large number of them very
soon. And he would have to find some way of stopping them. <It's
times like these I wish I was still a bounty hunter.>
(1) Sectoids: The little grey men from Roswell, if I remember
right. Genetically engineered, they range from your basic
foot soldiers to leaders with powerful telepathic abilities. Some
have been able to control the minds of others. Die quite easily.
(2) Chryssalids: Nasty bastards. They're fast, agile, and their
claws have a poison that turns you into a zombie, followed by a new
Chryssalid bursting out shortly afterwards. The good news is that
they have no ranged weapons in Chryssalid form (Zombies might have
weapons they were carrying when they were infected) and they really
hate explosive ammo.
***
[Tunguska, X-COM Base]
Commander Micheal Macherus looked at the tactictal display.
"{An abductor shot down near Jusenkyo. What craft are ready
to fly?}"
"{Skyrangers 1 through 3, and Lightning-1.}"
The Commander assesed his choices. "{Deploy Captain Green's
Platoon. Inform them to land at the following coordinates.}"
The private looked at the numbers on his screen in confusion.
"{Sir, that's in the middle of a village. The UN mandate-}"
The Commander him off. "{Relax. We won't lose funding
because of this.}"
***
[1:45pm]
[Skyranger-2]
"{The commander's lost it,}" Private Andrew Stone declared.
"{Dropping us in the middle of a village?}"
Captain Micheal Green checked his weapon. "{The general has
been to this village before. So have I, as a matter of fact.}"
"{Yeah? When?}"
Micheal smiled. "{Back when we were in Omega Sector. He was my
commanding officer. And if what Rogue Leader saw was correct, and I'm
almost certain it was, we've got some good allies there.}"
"{Who?}"
"{Don't pretend you're an owl. Go get the squad leaders.}"
Andrew made his way down to the main area. Micheal established
contact with the other two craft. Thirty seconds later, he stood in
front of the commanders of the squads under his command. "{Okay
people, here's the plan. We'll land in the middle of the village.
Franklin, once we land, take your squad to the north wall. I want
that heavy weapons platform online before five minutes. Ben, take
your people to the west wall. Ross, south wall. Bradley-}"
"{East wall.}"
Micheal nodded. "{I'll talk to the villiage elders, learn what
they know. Sam, get the scanners on-line, try on find out what's
hiding out there.)"
Samatha Carter nodded. "{I'll see what we can find.}"
Micheal pointed at the map on a small viewscreen behind him.
"{Rogue Leader is still in the cloud bank watching the craft for
movement and the upper atmosphere for a retrival ship by our dear
friends. He can't come any lower for security reasons. According to
his communications however, there was a large number of Snakemen and
Sectoids. Numbers of Mutons were small, but there may have been
other creatures that got clear before he reached the crash site.
Matt, I want your patrol squad outside the villiage setting booby
traps. The local's have plenty, but a few more won't hurt. Just
remember to warn everyone where they are this time.}" A few people
snickered as Matt had the decency to look embarassed. On an earlier
mission, several Sectoids were pushing Franklin's squad back when
they set off several booby traps. The squad had known about those
traps, and relaxed when the Sectoids were blown apart by the blast.
What wasn't so good, was that Matt had set a few traps behind
the squad, and neglected to mention it. They only set off one charge,
a toe-popper as it was known. A standard Bolt round was buried just
under the soft dirt, and it detonated when someone stepped on it.
Thankfully, their boots prevented injury, although Matt had to buy
several rounds after the mission to try and make up for it.
***
[Joketsuzoku]
Kal placed his chain mail armor on the bench at the front of
Razor's shop.
"+See what you can do with this, can you?+" he asked the
blacksmith.
"+I'll try, but getting those melted shoulder links off could
take a while. Your spare suit still in good condition?+"
"+Of course. What do you take me for, a Musk?+" Kal replied
with a smile on his face, then left the shop. As he walked down the
main street however, his smile became a frown as he considered what
they were up against. From Lo Shin's report, the aliens had killed
the entire group of amazons besides her in less then two minutes.
Seventeen Amazons were out there somewhere, their spirits restless
until their bodies were buried.
<And one has been doomed to wander the world as nothing more
then a lost spirit,> he thought sadly. <When I get my hands on that
parasite...>
His thoughts were cut off by a roaring noise. He looked up, as
did many other Amazons. His eyes widened as four craft decended
towards the village square. <Three of those are Skyrangers! Those
should be Omega Sector craft. But the marking on the side sure isn't
Omega Sector's Eagle...> He took note of the forth craft, which
looked a hell of a lot like a flying box with a weapon on top.
The moment they landed, around fifty soldiers exited the craft
and made their way to the villiage walls. Kal ignored then, instead
walking towards the commander.
The man saluted him. "{Founder Jerico. Captain Green of 3rd
Company, 2nd X-COM Regiment. Is there somewhere we could speak in
private concerning the current situation?}"
Kal nodded. "{This way captain.}" As he led the soldier to the
villiage hall, he pulled a warrior over to him. "+Spread the word not
to attack those guys.... yet,+" he whispered. The woman nodded and
ran off.
Kal, and Green sat at the council table. "{What is X-COM
exactly?}" Kal asked.
"{Throughout 1998, the Omega Sector Space Navy began to come
across a number of alien craft making their way towards Earth. The
craft reacted aggressivly to the Navy's presense. By July, there was
a large amount of alien craft launching attacks against the Space
Defenses and attempting to reach Earth. On November 23rd, a craft
finally was finally confirmed to have breached defences. It landed in
Australia. Omega Sector moved to capture them. Two entire squads were
sent to intercept. They were all killed. Founder Blackmane led the
second assualt personally. They killed all the aliens and seized the
technology.}"
Green shook his head sadly. "{There are several different
species of the Invaders. They've come from some inter-dimensional
gate outside the solar system. On December 12, it was decided by the
security council that a organisation be created to combat alien
threats, in and out of the shadows.}"
"{X-COM,}" Kal replied.
"{Right. The ship that crashed near this village was part of
an attack force that hit the lunar shipyards earlier today. Rogue
Leader managed to shoot him down. And of all the places to crash, it
was at Jusenkyo.}"
Kal snapped his fingers. "{Now I know where I've seen you
before. You used to serve in the Space Wolves Chapter.}"
Green nodded. "{Yes sir, but I was tranferred to X-COM a few
months ago due to my experience in alien fighting.}"
***
[2:45pm]
[Caore, Attlian]
Steve stood on the roof of the webway complex, watching the sun
set in the distance. He didn't even react when a figure appeared
behind him.
"It's been a while," the figure said.
"Just over a hundred years, if I remember right. What's the
occasion this time Gannon?" the warrior replied.
"Link has returned to Earth. It has begun."
Steve smiled sadly. <The endgame begins....> "So, have you
attacked him yet?"
"One of my minions made the mistake of attacking him. I have...
punished him for his arrogance." Gannon looked at his old opponent.
"You can't win Zelda."
Steve smiled. "I've died and been reborn thousands of times,
and you still call me by that name. What is it that makes you think
you'll win, Avatar of Power?"
"The very fact I am the Avatar of the Goddess of Power. Wisdom
and courage shall not defeat me."
"If one posesses wisdom, and the courage to use it wisely, he
has true power," Steve said.
"Oh please. You can't win. Your precious Omega Sector is not
ready. And there are many in the shadows that will support me."
"Just as many will not," Steve replied. "And you underestimate
Omega Sector. I believe we will win."
Gannon laughed. "You wish, Avatar of Wisdom." And with that,
he vanished. Steve scowled, and leapt off the roof, landing easily on
the ground.
He found his son in his room, examing various police reports on
the attacks. "{Something's come up. I've got to go back to Earth.
You're in command.}"
Storm nodded. "{I sensed something a few minutes ago. I assume
it had something to do with that?}"
Steve nodded. It would be better that Storm didn't know how
close he had been to one of the most evil beings in history.
"{Okay, I'll pass the word on to the others,}" Storm said. As
his father left the room, the Omega Marine smiled. <He really thinks
we don't know that was Gannon?>
<He doesn't realise I've encountered that daemon before,> a
female 'voice' replied. <After all, I am a rather young elemental.>
"{True,}" Storm replied out loud.
***
[2:55pm]
[Jusenkyo]
Matt stuck his head up from behind a bush, took a quick look
at the springs, then ducked down again. "{Three Snakemen (1), a Muton
(2) and four Sectoids, smack bang in the middle of Jusenkyo. Not good.}"
"{I don't get it,}" one of Matt's men said. "{What's so bad
about Jusenkyo?}
"{Derek, I came from Omega Sector. Every person in Omega Sector
knows Jusenkyo to be one of the most dangerous places on Earth. Water
from those springs could destroy your life totally.}" Matt scowled.
"{And the aliens are collecting it. Let's get out of here.}"
Suddenly one of the Sectoids yelled out, pointing it's weapon
in their direction. Matt swore. A Telepath!
All the aliens opened fire, plasma blasts striking the area
where the patrol squad were hiding. The shots that hit were stopped
by their carapace armour, and they were lucky enough that the cover
protected them from most of the blasts. "{Squad, return fire!}" Matt
ordered, pulling his Bolt Pistol from his holster.
The modified rounds, with a solid tip instead of the explosive
rounds in normal bolts, and a silent gas propellent, left only the
slightest noise as they imbedded themselves in the chest of a
Sectoid. The alien fell to the ground, gasping in pain.
Derek opened fire with his Lasgun, the beams of intense light
striking a Snakeman in the face. To the man's disgust, the creature
simply shook it off. "{We've got to improve our weaponry,}" he
muttered, reaching for a grenade.
"{Take it up with the General when we get back to Tunguska,}"
Matt said, firing at the Muton. To his surprise however, the
muscular humanoid kept coming. He barely had time to draw his sword
before the creature slammed into him, knocking his pistol out of his
left hand. The sword dug into the Muton's armoured right shoulder,
but the beast seemed to ignore it, wrapping its hands around Derek's
throat.
Matt reached for his pistol, the weapon just out off reach.
Just above his face, the Muton prepared to tear the flesh off his
face. With regret, the sergeant realised that it was all over. He was
dead.
Suddenly, a blast of white-hot plasma covered his vison, and
when it cleared, the Muton was lying on the ground next to him, its
face burnt off. He glanced over at Parker, who was casually resting
his Plasma Gun against his shoulder.
"{Thanks for the save,}" he said. He glanced at the alien
bodies scattered around the springs. No one had fallen in a spring,
which was surprising considering the place's reputation. He scowled
as he spotted more aliens appearing on the other side of the springs.
"{Head back to the villiage. Move!}"
The squad moved through the forest, firing back at the aliens
pursuing them. Suddenly, Parker cried out in pain, dropping the
Plasma gun. Matt looked at the weapon, which was sending a large
cloud of superheated steam into the air. Kicking the weapon away from
anything too flamable, Matt helped Parker to his feet. "{Head for
the traps!}" he ordered.
(1) Snakemen: The name says it all. Human sized snakes with
arms. Good for testing out new weapons on. Can't take too much
damage, but are often well armed.
(2) Mutons: Purple skinned extremely strong foot soldiers. They
have a skin-tight suit of green armour grafted to their bodies, which
are quite effective at withstanding attacks. Large amounts of
cybernetic implants that enhance their abilities and make them even
stronger then they already are. Reproductive organs have been
removed, limiting them to a life of warfare.
***
Hidden in a cloud bank, Gavin contined to scan the region for
signs of alien activity. "{Well, nobody here but us chickens,}" he
said, finishing off his chocolate. "{Why they don't just use the
satelites is beyond me... huh?}" One of his scanners was suddenly
showing the alien element known as Elerium-115. Scanning that point,
his eyes widened in shock as he saw two large scouts fly out of a
hidden hanger. "{Damn!}"
Kicking in the afterburners, he swooped down towards the UFO's,
their presense having overidden the need to stay hidden. Suddenly,
plasma fire arced up towards him from the valley, below, and he
pulled out of the dive.
<Weapons turrets. No doubt about it, there's an alien base
there.> He attempted to transmit the fact to Tunguska, but found that
the aliens were jamming him. "{This sucks!}" he muttered as he evaded
several missiles. "{I've got to break the jamming or they might never
know there's a base here!}"
***
Matt grinned as he heard the first explosions several hundred
metres behind them. With any luck, a few of their pursuers should
have been taken out by the plasma charges left there. Slamming a
magazine of standard bolts into his pistol, he dodged around a hidden
pit they had located earlier.
And then they were out of the forest, and on the open field
between the forest and the village. The amazons and soldiers on the
wall aimed their weapons at them, then relaxed when they saw the
group was human. "{Open the gate!}" Matt yelled.
They were almost at the gates when their pursuers burst out of
the undergrowth several hundred metres behind them. The guards on the
wall opened fire, the lasguns sending the remaining Chryssalid to its
grave. The Snakemen and Mutons kept on coming.
An amazon yelled out somthing Matt couldn't hear, and the next
thing he knew, a Gyarados stuck its head over the wall and fired a
Hyper Beam. The aliens tried to dodge the energy attack, but one of
them was too slow, and the Mutons green armour was useless as the
beam blew a large hole in its chest.
The Heavy Weapon Platform tracked, aimed, and fired. Two
Snakemen were blown to shreds, while the last one fell into the
crater, only to be taken down by the explosive rounds from the
Autocannon in squad one. Matt grinned as the Captain leveled his
Combi-weapon (1), the Bolter mode taking down the last Muton.
(1) Combiweapon: Two guns fused together. In Omega Sector and
X-COM, it's generally a Bolter and something else. Used by commanders
that want a little bit of extra firepower.
***
[Edge of Earth's atmosphere]
Gavin rolled, plasma blasts missing him by millimeters.
"{They've gotta have some sort of jamming devices on their craft.
There's no way the base could be jamming me at this range.}" Another
wave of plasma blasts. "{Well, if I can't outrun them...}" Changing
his craft to Battloid mode, he dropped on top of one of the large
scouts, then emptied his entire clip into it. As it fell to the Earth
far below, radar detected more craft launching. A Terror Ship and two
large scouts. <Not good!>
Suddenly, bullets tore a large gash along the side of the
remaining scouts hull. Seemingly out of nowhere, two X-COM
interceptors appeared, armed to the teeth and intent on destroying
the alien craft.
"{Nice timing,}" Gavin said to himself.
"{Rogue Leader, this is Captain Miles of X-COM. What is your
status?}"
Gavin blinked. "{I'm fine. Are you in communication with
Tunguska?}"
"{Negative, their jamming is blocking us as well.}"
"{One of you head back to base. As soon as you establish
contact, inform them that there is a base at Jusenkyo. Do you
understand?}"
"{Acknowledged Rogue Leader.}" The second Interceptor pulled
away from the fight, intent on getting word to his commanders.
"{Okay captain, we've got a Terror ship and two large scouts on
route. What weaponry do you have?}"
"{Laser cannons and Avalanche missiles.}"
"{Here they come. I'll take the Terror ship, you take the
scouts.}" Kicking in the afterburners, the pair headed towards the
alien ships.
A ball of fusion energy built up at the tip of the Terror ships
weapon port. Gavin pulled up, and the sphere sailed harmlessly
underneath him, flying off into space. <Let's hope it doesn't hit
anything too important up there,> Gavin thought as he locked onto the
Terror ship. A swarm of missiles made their way towards the Terror
ship, tearing it apart.
***
[3:30pm]
[Caore]
Storm and Ferrick ducked into the alleyway, the place where
they had been standing a second ago currently being rented out by
hundreds of bullets. "{I'd say the tip off was right,}" Ferrick said
as he loaded more shells into his shotgun. "{Our chaos friends are
here all right.}"
Storm nodded, then stuck his arm and head out. A few plasma
blasts later and he pulled himself back in, pistol smoking. "{Contact
the others. Tell them to get here as fast as they can.}" Ferrick
nodded and reached for the com-link.
Storm looked out into the street. "{Is it just me, or is that
Chaos Cultist managing to hit the building on the other side of the
street instead of us?}"
Ferrick nodded. "{It's quite rude to try and kill an Omega
Marine if you can't even shoot properly.}"
"{Indeed. We should kill him.}"
"{I thought that was already in the works,}" Ferrick replied.
"{Elementals first.}"
Storm grinned. "{Do you really think I'd waste my partners time
on these clowns?}" He glanced up towards the rooftops. "{Ten of them
are planning to hit us from above. Weak ki-levels.}"
"{I'll take the goons in the street,}" Ferrick said, reaching
for a grenade, "{you deal with the boys upstairs.}"
Storm nodded, and easily leapt up several dozen meters to the
rooftops. The cultists were shocked to see him leap high over them.
<You'd think they'd never seen a martial artist before,> he thought,
drawing his power sword as he fell towards them, the energy cells in
the hilt giving the weapon a blue aura.
Storm attacked the leader first, the enhanced blade easily
cutting through the Attlian's armour. Another cultist, armed with
some sort of Autocannon, turned to try and mow him down, but was the
next to fall.
Back at street level, Ferrick adjusted his cap, then leapt out
of the alley, screaming insults at the cultists. Lasers and bullets
narrowly missed him as he rolled to the side, bringing his shotgun up
and firing at one armed with an Autocannon. As that one fell, Ferrick
pulled the pin from a frag grenade, throwing it at the cultists
before leaping into another alley. Behind him, the explosion and
screams of pain confirmed at least a few of them hadn't found cover
in time.
In a nearby building, an armoured figure rose to its feet.
"{Omega Sector has joined the battle. I will have the honor of
crushing the life out of the elemental host.}" He turned to several
Attlians standing nearby. "{Kill the one in the street, and force the
host to reveal his partner.}" The Attlians bowed and ran from the
room.
Ferrick shot one of the cultists, then ducked as an axe swung
at his head. Slamming the butt of his shotgun into his attackers
stomach, he saw more cultists emerging out of a side street. All of
them only had close combat weapons such as knives and axes, but there
was almost twenty of them. Ferrick smiled sadly. There was no way he
could fight them all off alone. <Looks like there's going to be one
less Catachan Devil,> he thought as he pulled out his dagger and
charged into battle for what seemed the last time.
Suddenly, a massive explosion engulfed over half of the
cultists, and their burning bodies fell to the ground. Ferrick looked
around, and spotted Tank standing on a nearby roof top, a Heavy
Cannon in his hands. <Should have known it'd be him,> Ferrick
thought. After all, Tank got his call-sign from the fact that his
choice of weapons usually rivaled a tank. <I'll bet he's got
something big in his backpack too. Heavy Laser maybe.>
Tank gave Ferrick a thumbs up, then activated his head set.
"{The others are on their way, along with local police forces.}"
Weapons fire emergered from a window on the building that they had
come to investigate. Tank spun around, took aim, and fired. With a
suitably sized explosion, part of the building fell to the ground.
"{I really love that,}" he said. "{Where's Storm?}"
"{Around a block east of you,}" Storm's voice replied through
the headsets. "{Found a few cultists taking pot shots at me. Missing
by a mile, but still, they might get lucky.}" A few explosions over
the radios, followed by the actual sound a micro-second later
indicated someone, probably the cultists, were trying to blow the
other side up.
"{Storm? You all right?}"
"{I'm fine. The cultists tried a few grenades. Hey, here come
the others.}"
Several craft decended upon the area. Out of one of them
emerged the two remaining members of Squad Katana and the Catachan
Devils, weapons blazing. Nova rushed headlong into the fight,
his bolter taking more victims.
Ferrick and Brightwater slammed into one group of cultists,
their 20-inch-long daggers inflicting massive damage at such close
ranges. Tank put away the Cannon and pulled out the Heavy Laser,
opening fire on a cultist. The beams of light hit with such force the
Attlian was thrown across the street, hitting a wall with a sickening
crunch.
Several of the Catachan Devils simply braced themselves and
opened fire, their bolters sending death across the street.
Police forces were just as brutal to the cultists. Telepathy
was derived from the Warp, home of the Chaos gods, and as such their
people had been at war with the evil beings since their race first
developed the ability.
In less then a minute the street and rooftops were clear. Storm
jumped to to the ground. "{Police forces, set up a defensive
perimeter around the main building, and search the others. Squad
Katana and Catachan Devils, we're going to lead the frontal
assault.}" Suddenly the buildings main doors opened, revealing a
figure in Terminator Armour. It held no other weapon then a slightly
curved sword that glowed with a black aura.
Storm stepped forward. "{I'll deal with this. Go and take care
of the cultists.}" Nova nodded and the others fell back. Storm
holstered his Plasma Pistol and held his power sword in a two
handed grip. As one, the pair charged each other, swords clashing.
Both warriors circled each other, striking out at each other
time and time again. Storm wasn't holding back, and neither was the
chaos lord. "{Since I arrived in this era, I have heard stories of
the elementals,}" the chaos lord said, bringing his sword down
towards Storm's head. Storm brought his own sword up, blocking the
blow. Barely.
<Damn he's strong!> Storm thought, replying with a furious
attack, attempting to find a weak spot in his defence. To his
annoyance, the chaos lord blocked every blow, even managing to strike
back at the Omega Marine. Storm leapt over his oppenent, and swung at
his head, only to see the Lord swing his sword over his head to parry
Storms.
***
Nova kicked the door open, then moved forward, bolter ready.
Ferrick flanked him on one side, Yang on the other. "{Room looks
clear,}" he said, motioning for the soldiers behind him to move
forward.
As the others entered the room, part of the ceiling gave way,
revealing several cultists that opened fire instantly. Yang brought
his Heavy Bolter up, fired off three quick shots, and watched the
bodies fall to the ground. Nova tossed a stun grenade through the
hole, and everyone turned away from the flash of light that blinded
anyone still alive up there. Two of the Devils leapt through the
hole. There was a few sounds of a fight, then one of the Devils, Carl
Stone, called down that the room was clear.
"{Okay. Set a few traps then get back down here,}" Nova
ordered. <I can't believe I'm giving the Catachan Devils orders,> he
thought to himself. After all, each and every one of the Devils had
been around for more then a hundred years, and had more experience in
their little toes then he could ever hope to have.
Slowly but surely, the Omega Marines made their way through the
building, killing most of the cultists, knocking out a few for
questioning latter.
By the time they reached the third floor, the cultists were on
the retreat, many of them dropping their weapons and running. Nova
and Tank ducked into a room as one of the braver cultists opened fire
with an Autocannon.
"{All men, this is Nova. Hostile with Autocannon in third floor
main hallway. Five more fleeing behind him towards the north side of
the building.}"
"{Nova, this is Ferrick. I'm on my way up with Stone and
Snake.}" A gunshot could be heard over the com-link. "{Nova, make
that four hostiles.}"
"{Acknowledged Ferrick.}" There was a brief pause in the
Autocannon fire, and Nova leaned out of the doorway, picking off the
cultist. "{Brightwater, what's your situation?}" he asked as he made
his way down the corridor.
"{I'm at the stairs up to the forth floor. Seven hostiles are
up there, blasting anything that gets close. Several grenades. I
could use help in clearing them out.}"
"{Help's on the way. Ferrick?}"
"{Yeah?}"
{Head for the stairs up. Use those stun grenades on the
hostiles there.}"
"{On my way.}"
***
Storm vanished. The Chaos Lord looked around, but saw no sign
of him.
On a nearby rooftop, Storm leaned against a billboard and tried
to regain his breath. <This guy's tough,> he thought. <I've never
been in a battle like this before.>
<Care if I try?> his partner asked.
<I don't see why not,> Storm thought, as a thin layer of ice
began to coat his body. Soon his body was completely covered, making
him look like an ice statue. Then the ice - and his body - melted
into water, which then reformed into a new shape before freezing
again.
The change complete, Storm's partner, the ice elemental Ayla
rose to her feet, her dark blue eyes taking in the sight below her.
<He was so eager to meet an elemental in battle. Let's see how well
he does,> she thought as she stepped off the rooftop, dropping to the
ground in front of the Chaos Lord.
The Lord had no time to react before an attack similar to a
pokemon's Ice Beam struck him in the face. As he slammed into a
police hovercraft he tried to figure out what hit him. Looking up, he
saw a woman seemingly made of ice. "{So, the elemental reveals
itself. I shall destroy you. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!}" He yelled,
bringing his sword up to cleave the unarmed woman in half.
The blade was forged on the Chaos World Of Edilon, had easily
cut through the strongest armour. To the Chaos Lords surprise, it was
blocked by a simple ice staff that seemed to appear out of nowhere.
"{You have killed innocents,}" Ayla said quietly. "{You have
desecrated their souls, and betrayed the very universe by serving the
Chaos Gods. Surrender now, and be given a fair trial by Omega Sector,
and a chance at redemption. If you do not, you will die.}"
"{Foolish bitch! I have fought against every foe that exists in
the 36th millennium! I am stronger then the mortal I once was!}" He
attacked again, and Ayla blocked the sword. The pair attacked each
other once more, sparks flying as their weapons met. Ayla scowled as
she looked at him.
"{Stronger perhaps, but at what cost? How much of your soul is
left?}" She let her power flow through her, and the temperature in
the air around the pair began to drop.
The Chaos Lords movements became sluggish, as the magical cold
began to eat away at his strength where even the cold of space could
not. His attacks began to falter. Ayla knocked him off his feet, and
held an ice dagger to his throat.
"{At least I shall die in battle, my death giving more blood
for my master,}" he declared. Ayla scowled, and punched him in the
face, knocking him out.
"{You wish,}" she muttered as her ice body melted, then
reshaped into Storm. The warrior grinned, yelling out for the police
to secure the prisoner.
***
[3:45pm]
[Joketsuzoku]
Kal and Captain Green watched as several dozen Skyrangers and
Lightnings flew overhead, each carrying the troops needed to defend
the valley and attack the alien base hidden somewhere within it.
"{Chinese military has completed the evacuation of all non-shadow
villiages in the region. I think they used some story about rebels,}"
Green said.
"{Most likely. There's been a lot of them in the area recently.
Those that made the mistake of coming into the valley itself didn't
last long,}" Kal replied.
Green continued the report. "{My platoon's Skyrangers are on
their way here with spare weaponry for your people to use. Mainly
lasguns and such, but they're the newer models, so ammo won't be a
problem.}"
"{Now it's simply a matter of who strikes first. The aliens, or
us.}"
***
[4:15pm]
[High above Jusenkyo]
"{Terror ship on your tail Jess.}"
Jessica Carter pulled on the lever marked G, and her Veritech
changed modes, the boot jets removing most of the crafts speed. The
Terror Ship wasn't expecting the change, and flew right past her.
"{Ugly things, ain't they? Here, have some missiles.}"
"{Rogue Four, stop playing with it.}"
"{You're no fun,}" she complained, firing two extra missiles at
the alien vessels engines. "{Now you die,}" she said as the engines
blew, taking the ship to a firey grave.
"{Now you die?}" Rogue Nine, Robert Walls, demanded. "{Just you
think of something more original?}"
"{Like what?}" Jess demanded, locating one of the ground based
based Plasma Turrets.
"{How 'bout eat hot flaming plasma cannon death, you saucer-
alien human-abducting alien fuckheads!!}" Rob yelled, ripping a
medium scout apart with his plasma cannon (It replaced the usual
gun).
"{How about cutting down on the swearing?}" Rogue Leader asked.
"{Sorry boss.}
Jess glanced at a readout panel. "{I'm out of missiles.}"
Far below, X-COM troops and Amazon warriors attacked the
dozens of crash sites, and soon the valley became one big warzone.
Kal ducked behind a tree, plasma blasts tearing up the place he
had been standing a second before. Charging up a ki-sphere, he leaned
out, and with a cry of "MOUKO TAKABISHA!!" he sent two mutons into
the afterlife.
A Chryssalid leapt at Po Shun, knowing that there was no way
such an old woman could escape its poison. A nano-second later, the
aliens head had left its body.
Green blasted a Muton in the face with his Combi-weapons Bolter
mode. As the beast fell to the ground, he saw his prize. An undamaged
Heavy Plasma. (1) "{This is Green. The Muton I just blasted dropped a
Heavy Plasma. I'll need some covering fire. Confirm.}"
"{Sam Carter, check that!}"
"{Po Shin, check that!}"
"{Kal Jerico, check that! You're clear Green, move!}"
Green jumped out from behind the tree, running like mad for the
Plasma weapon. Behind him, the Amazon, Time Traveller and Soldier
opened fire, sending lasers and ki-blasts in the direction of the
aliens. Green leapt forward, grabbed the weapon and rolled under a
bush. A second later, the top half of the bush was torn apart by
plamsa beams.
Sam swore as a dozen aliens emerged from the bushes, either
survivors of another crash, or troops sent from the base. "{We're
outnumbered!}" she yelled.
"{Don't think of it as being outnumbered,}" Gareth Harrison,
one of her teammates yelled back, "{just think of it as having a very
wide shot selection!}" Pulling the pin off an alien grenade, he
proved his claim by blowing up two Snakemen and a Muton, and shooting
down the Cyberdisc (2)with his Lasgun.
Green popped up and tagged a Snakeman with the Heavy Plasma. At
the same time, he reached for his Combi-weapon, switching to the
second weapons mode. With a weapon in both arms, he grinned as he
aimed at the two Sectoids and Reaper. The two little grey-skinned
black-eyed aliens raised their plasma rifles, while the Reaper
(3) charged him.
Green opened fire, plasma blasts cutting down the Sectoids,
while the Reaper was blown back by the power of the rocket-propelled-
grenade.
(1) Undamaged Heavy Plasma: Most alien weapons could easily be
used by humans. However, often the amount of ammo is extremly
limited, or the weapons are damaged, with no way of reparing them
with current Earth-based technology. For this reason, undamaged
alien weapons are sought out by X-COM and Omega Sector, due to the
fact they can study it and learn how to copy both the gun and it's
ammo.
(2) Cyperdisc: Miniture flying saucers armed with plasma beams.
Sometimes explode violently when destoyed.
(3) Reaper: Fierce hungry furry bipedal things, ravenous as
wolves, that would come louping along at you and rip your head off
and eat it before you knew you were an appetizer. Like Chryssalids,
they have no ranged attacks, but they're just as annoying.
***
[Just outside the valley]
Corperal Brendan 'Ringo' Lawson popped up from behind a fence,
aimed the grenade launcher, and fired. The Cyberdisc exploded, taking
out part of a wall with it. Over next to where the Lightning
transport has landed, his old friend Tim Hermans was performing what
could only be described as military dissection on several different
types of aliens. "{Stop playing with those freaks Tim.}"
"{You're no fun,}" Tim replied, tossing the Autocannon back
into the transport and grabbing the stun rod. As Ringo got to work on
convincing several Snakemen that it was a better idea not to go down
the main street, Tim went one on one with a Muton. The beasts punch
went over the humans head, and he replied by jamming the stun rod
into the creatures mouth and setting the voltage to full. Several
thousand volts arced through the creatures body before it fell to the
ground out cold. "{And they say there's no job satisfaction in the
military these days,}" the young man quipped. "{Any word on the rest
of the squad?}"
Ringo listened to his headset. "{Some aliens in the Havester,
mainly Snakemen. Two Setoid snipers running around with Heavy
Plasmas.}" He looked up for a moment. "{Down!}" he yelled, leaping
back behind the fence. A Cyberdisc flew out of a side street, plasma
beams arcing out in every direction.
Tim leapt into the Lightning, plasma narrowly missing his feet.
Activating the weapons systems, he locked the Plasma Cannon onto the
Cyberdisc.
The Plasma Cannon is normally used for shooting down alien
craft. As demonstrated here, it is also very good at blowing apart
Cyberdiscs and scattering its various components across the
landscape.
Tim stuck his head out, looking for a sign of trouble. When
nothing shot at him, he assumed it was safe for the rest of his body
to follow.
"{The sergeant says the craft is clear. They're on their way
back. Get the lightning ready for take-off,}" Ringo ordered. He
noticed a building still standing, a hole in it's wooden roof.
"{Looks cozy up there,}" he said, grabbing a sniper rifle.
Tim's hands darted across the ships controls, powering up the
alien systems that allowed the craft to move. Suddenly, the scanners
showed over thirty dots appear out of nowhere. Tim focused the
scanners around them, bringing up information on them. "{Oh shit!
Ringo, we've got incoming! Thirty alien soldiers. Ten Mutons, five
Chryssalids, seven Sectoids, six Snakemen and two Cyberdiscs! Coming
in from the north, their base has an exit there!}"
Ringo ran up the stairs to the attic, then ran to the hole in
the roof. Raising the sniper rifle, he checked the surrounding
hillside. Sure enough, the aliens were advancing, and he even saw the
base entrance, a piece of fake hillside sliding into place over it.
"{This is bad,}" he muttered, contacting the sergeant. "{Sir, we have
thirty aliens aproaching the ship. We'll try and slow them down, but
we'll need assistance as soon as possible!}"
Tim locked the Plasma Cannon onto the aliens, sending beams of
death towards them. The aliens leapt behind cover. While he adjusted
the cannons targeting, a small missile shot high into the air, a
purple energy trail behind it. Tim's eyes widened. "{Oh shit, a
blaster bomb (1)!}" He hit a button and the access hatch slammed
shut.
The bomb suddenly changed course, flying under the Lightning
and slamming into the now closed hatch. It detonated with incredible
force. Ringo ducked out of sight to avoid the debris, and Tim was
knocked off his feet.
As the smoke cleared, Ringo popped up, aiming at the Snakeman
carrying the Blaster Launcher. He fired, and the alien fell to the
ground dead. "{Tim, you alright?}"
"{Just a little shaken. The ship seems to be okay.}" As if to
prove the point, the plasma cannon on top began to fire again,
pinning the aliens down.
Ringo joined in, forcing the Cyberdiscs to stay low or be
destroyed.
The rest of the squad appeared from around a corner, sending a
trail of laser and autocannon fire in the direction of the aliens.
Several Sectoids soon fell, followed by some Mutons and Snakemen.
Slowly but surely, they made their towards their transport.
"{Lawson, get down here!}" the sergeant yelled. Ringo fired one
last shot then ran for the attic door.
Tim activated the anti-grav systems. The craft rose of the
ground, the landing struts rising back into the vessel. Suddenly, the
scanners detected an alien craft moving towards them. "{An
Abductor!}" Tim said. "{We're in no condition to fight that!}"
Ringo ran out of the house, laspistols in both hands. "{Hold
the boat!}" he yelled as the surviving Cyberdisc took aim. Ringo
opened fire with both pistols, laser beams striking the flying
saucer. Several beams managed to penetrate the craft, and it
exploded, sending pieces of metal flying across the battlefield.
Ringo leapt up onto the gangway. "{Go!}"
The box-shaped craft took to the sky, leaving behind the few
surviving aliens. It wasn't standard procedure to let uncaptured
invaders live, but at the moment they had no choice.
"{The Abductor's following us,}" Tim reported. "{Everyone take
a seat, this could get bumpy.}" Ringo jumped into the weapons seat,
aiming the Plasma Cannon at the alien ship.
"{Just a little closer...}" he whispered. "{Now!}" A beam of
plasma emerged from the weapon turret and raced towards the Abductor.
The alien craft dropped towards the ground, and the beam flew over
the top of it. "{Damn!}" Ringo yelled, aiming again. The craft dodged
once again, only to be blasted in the side by a missile. The YF-19
came around for another shot, but didn't need to worry as Ringo
managed to take out the main engines.
"{Nice shot Lawson,}" the sergeant said. "{Grey, contact
command, see where we can land to refuel and repair.}"
Grey spoke to regional command for a few minutes. Then he
turned to the sergeant. "{Tunguska's full. If we want repairs, we'll
have to try another base.}"
"{We've got enough fuel to make it back to Worcester,}" one of
the soldiers said. "{That means we could try any of the bases in
Asia, Africa and Europe.}"
"{Well, where we land is gonna be where this girl stays for
quite some time,}" Tim called out. "{Plasma Turret is gonna need
extensive repairs. Hull's gonna need an overhaul. Anti-grav system is
holding, but the power source was shaken up by that blaster bomb.
It's not transferring power properly.}"
Sergeant Scott McGlone scowled. "{Can we at least drop off some
of us at Joketsuzoku?}"
"{As long as we don't shut down the power source, we should be
able to pull it off. Who's going?}" Before Scott had a chance to
speak, he added, "{and don't even think about dropping me off. I've
piloted this girl since the day she was launched. I know her inside
and out. You won't make it without me at the controls.}"
"{I know Hermans. Lawson, Grey, Masaki, Ellison, Archard. You
five will jump off at Joketsuzoku. Take as many weapons as you can
carry. Make yourself useful somehow. The rest of us will head to the
nearest base that can fit us and begin repairs.}"
(1) Blaster Bomb: Computer-guided missile. You set the
waypoints, then fire and probably forget. Sometimes misses, but not
often.
***
[5:00pm]
[Attlian Webway Complex]
Storm glared at his drink. <Why is it that I was stupid enough
to order this?>
<You like trying out new drinks?> Ayla replied.
<Yeah, and right now I'm wishing I hadn't. This is one of the
worst drinks I've ever had!>
"{Hey kid.}" Storm looked up to see Snake Kaplan standing
there. "{Guess I should have warned you about that stuff. I don't
know how it's possible to make it so bad.}"
"{I'm thinking dead demons,}" the Space Wolf replied. "{What's
up?}"
"{The Chaos Lord is awake. The chief of police wanted to know
if you're ready to interview him.}"
Storm nodded. "{You feel like coming along?}"
Snake shrugged. "{Might as well. Nothing to do here.}"
***
[5:25pm]
[Gaerat Prison, 250 kilometers north of Caore]
<The armour is fused to the body,> the warden 'said' as he led
Snake and Storm to the Chaos Lords cell. <No weapons that we could
locate, and I doubt a follower of Khorne could be subtle enough to
have hidden weapons.> He placed his left hand on the scanner next to
the cell door. A moment later the door unlocked. <You have as long as
you need with the scum.>
As they entered the room, Storm took note of the way the Chaos
Lord was chained to the wall. His armour had also been welded to the
wall. <They really don't want it to get loose, do they?> he thought
to himself.
"{So, the elemental host has decided to grace me with his
presense,}" the Chaos Lord muttered.
"{Can it. I just want to know a few things. How'd you end up in
this time period?}"
"{I have died and been reborn hundreds of times. I have
travelled the multiverse, killing in the name of my master! Soon you
shall all die, and my master shall give me the honor of thearing your
hearts from your weakling bodies! I shall spread your blood across
the battlefield! BLOOD FOR THE-}" Storm cut him off with a punch to
the face.
"{We're not interested in your ranting, chaos scum. How many
others came back with you?}"
"{You'll see soon enough mortal.}"
Storm frowned. "{It's a pity you didn't surrender. Having Omega
Sector hold you in custody would give me the chance to show just how
much I like you. As it is, I doubt the Attlians will keep you alive
for long.}"
As he left the room, the Chaos Lord called for him to stop. "{I
will give you one clue. My master and his brothers are preparing to
do battle with your weakling forces. Soon, war shall cover the entire
galaxy. My destiny shall be assured.}"
"{Don't count on it,}" Storm growled.
***
"{Any idea what he meant?}" Snake asked as they walked down the
hallway.
"{Only that the Chaos Gods are up to something big. Even for
them, the power needed to bring someone back in time is nothing short
of incredible. Not even Khorne would do it just for a brief fight.}"
<Lieutenant Schofield!> Snake and Storm turned to see the
warden running towards them.
"{What's wrong Warden?}" Storm asked.
<I just heard on the news. Chaos forces have taken Government
House.>
"{What?!}"
***
[5:55pm]
[Government House, Attlian]
Storm stood behind the barricades, watching the cultists at the
windows. They were all wearing some sort of body armour, and carrying
advanced weaponry.
"{They've got almost every member of the Attlian government in
there,}" Nova said. "{From what we know, they're scattered right
throughout the building. We try and force our way in they'll kill the
hostages.}"
"{Crippling the Attlian Empire in one swift blow,}" Storm
finished. "{I'm now accepting ideas on how to fix this disaster.}"
"{Don't look at me,}" Nova replied.
The main doors opened, and a heavily armoured figure stepped
out. Storm swore. The armour was similar in design to that worn by
Founder Blackmane. Power Armour was some of the best personal armour
in galaxy, but came from the Imperium, thirty thousand years in the
future. This suit of Power Armour had been changed by the chaos taint
- Spikes running along the forearms, the helmet more of a skull,
chaoitic symbols dotted all over it, and many other mutations that
affected anyone and anything that was controlled by the chaos gods.
There was no doubt about it. The figure in front of them was a
Chaos Marine, a warrior of pure evil.
"{Hear my words!}" he yelled. "{We will gladly kill your
weakling leaders if you attempt to attack us! Your police and
military forces will come no closer then they already are! If you do,
we will start killing hostages. You have been warned}" And with that
he walked back into the building.
"{He's bluffing,}" Nova said.
"{No, he's serious. We've got to get them out of there somehow.
But how?}"
<Lieutenant!> Nova turned to see the chief of police walking
towards him. <Could I have a word with you in private?>
"{Of course.}" The pair walked over to a quiet spot. "{What's
wrong? Besides the obvious.}"
<I just recived a request from the commander of the military
forces on their way here. He asks if it's possible to call in more
Omega Sector units.>
"{Are you sure?}" When the police chief nodded, "{Why?}"
<At a guess, I'd say it's because the units that are deployed
here will have plenty of skill in fighting Chaos, possibly more then
some of the best units in our military. Plus the image of Earth
assisting in this situation could improve the public opinion of
Earth.>
"{I'll have to consult my superiors about this,}" Storm
replied. "{I'll let you know their answer.}"
***
End Part One (Right in the middle of the action too!)
***
Well, that's part one finished. Don't ask me where I got half
these ideas from. In fact, don't ask me where any of them came from.
X-COM is much larger then it was in the original game (Which I
found a copy of just before I started writing this. Explains a lot.)
It's around the size of a small army, mainly infantry and aircraft,
plus a few tanks thrown in for good measure. Oddly enough, just as I
put the finishing touches on this fic, I'm up to July in the game,
and all hell has broken loose in China with alien ships everywhere.
It seems to me like my computer has a twisted sense of humor.
Omega Sector is basically a force that makes sure all the
action in the shadows stay in the shadows. They're also willing to
help out Earth's allies when possible. Remember, in the modern day,
there's only Earth and a few colonies. It's not healthy to try and
order everyone around. They also have dimensional travel, which shows
where all their technology comes from.
So, what's in part two? Things get even more out of contol at
Jusenkyo, Storm and his team-mates have to stop the Chaos Gods from
starting a war, and Founder Blackmane makes his first appearance,
investigating a strange ship that has drifted into the Solar System.
Till next time!
Matrix Dragon
"That oughtta do it. Thanks very much, Ray."