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 Cleansing Warswick (Rated T)- PUBLISHING SOON(fixed: Ch1-2) 

Who is your favorite Faction (must have read at least to chapter 5)
Poll ended at Fri May 06, 2011 6:57 am
Hand of God (Rebel/Human) 67%  67%  [ 2 ]
Linked Earth Worlds (Main Force/human) 33%  33%  [ 1 ]
Gilgathons (Alien) 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Elvidions (Alien) 0%  0%  [ 0 ]
Total votes : 3

 Cleansing Warswick (Rated T)- PUBLISHING SOON(fixed: Ch1-2) 
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Ace Trainer
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PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING/READING/REPLYING! KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR UPDATES IN THE BEGINING OF THIS POST!!!

Genre: Science Fiction/Military/Action
Rating: T (For violence, some language, and overall reading level
Overveiw: After the small, newly colonized planet Warswick is found to hold a deeply unnerving secret, Humanity could be left in grave danger. After a battle-gone-wrong, Soldiers from the Faction The Hand of God, a rebel group fighting against injustice of their home planet, and the main human force, the Linked Earth Worlds (LEW), have to work together to make it out of a cave alive. After a run-in with the "Third Kind", they must decide to live, or attempt to save the planet of Warswick, and potentially all of human kind.
Completion Scale: Complete! I completed it a while ago, and I'm actually working on 2, count 'em, 2 books now, one is the sequal to this book.

*Please Note, if you haven't it's a good idea to catch-up on some events by reading the prologue. Feel free to post whatcha think, but try to be nice about it. I might add a comentary post later on down the road to talk about what I was thinking in the book, and setting the pace for chapter One. It's a work-in-progress, keep that in mind.

Now the entire book will be posted in this thread. If you are new, and feel it hard to catch up. Feel free to read the first two chapters and PM me to personally e-mail you. Otherwise, feel free to read and comment as you go. To reply: Please add what chapter(s) you read and then your comments on it. If you fear spoilers (which you probably don't care about) Then reframe from reading others posts, and try to reduce spoilers for A new chapter until 3 more chapters had been posted (the last three chapters need spoiler tags on the posts to reply to them)

EDIT: I noticed there are little swear stars that pop up, good, but please note that I noticed some words get swear stars that don't need them. I'm sorry for this, It's like Runescape. It's psypokes rules, and they're good ones. I don't like swearing, and I'm against it. BUT, for the reality of the book, some characters swear and some terms and such are used. I do have one main character who is Mr. Swear man, so expect alot of his lines to be starred like crazy. Thank-You Psypoke! Anyway, this is again a warning to others, my book is more mature. Please don't judge me on swears, again, I hate cursing and believe no one should curse, but I'm also a mature authur.

Replying: if you HAVE to talk about a new chapter, place some sort of SPOILER TAG in your post. Otherwise, discuss and talk away. At the begining of your post (unless replying to anothers post) please put what Chapter(s) you have read in them, mostly this is for me to track where people are. Again, there will be no directly talking about events in chapters until three chapters after. The last three chapters need spoiller tags ALL THE TIME! Please, feel free to gramatically correct me, but note I screen almost all my work and some spelling is meant to be and Dialogue is sometimes supposed to be hacked up for accent/speech quirks of characters.

-That's right, it's now done!!! As of 11/3/08 I've finally finished posting Cleansing Warswick on Psypoke! This is one of the few places you can find the whole story! Now enjoy, and stay tuned for it's sequal comming soon...

- Cleansing Silver Nava IV is UP! Go Check it Out [Link Comming Soon]

-YOU READ RIGHT! As of 3/15/09 I have started the periless journey of publishing. After much urging, I must go back to Cleansing Warswick to make it worthy, and send it off. This might be one of the few places to read it before it's too late. If it DOES get published (GASP there is a God!) I may need to delete it, or censor it or something. But I'll try not to.

Chapters Revised and *finished*: Ch 1-2

All In all, have fun and I hope you enjoy Cleansing Warswick!


The Circle of Life

Ruben poked his head up from under his blanket and looked around. After wiping some sand from his eye, he grabbed his binoculars and looked through the eyepiece. Nothing, it was desolate out there. A gentle breeze blew, and he took a deep breath then lay down, no longer worrying about covering up in his sand covered blanket for camouflage.

Ruben brushed sand out of his shaggy, dark brown hair. After watching the sand particles reflect the sun and twinkle on their way back down to their homes, Ruben stretched himself out on a rock, his full height, and starred at the clouds.
He thought of how it must be, soaring above the clouds. Ruben had never been anywhere besides the fortress. He was supposed to always stay inside the fortress walls, but he was more cunning then the guards. He liked it out here on Warswick, though he knew of no other planet. He always wanted to be like his dad, going off to work each day and going to fight bad guys and monsters. He loved it here.

A rustle caught his attention, so quiet a normal human wouldn’t have ever noticed, for he barely noticed it. He shot up and looked in his binoculars. Nothing. He sighed and continued looking at the horizon. He saw a small dot in the sky, moving ever so slowly. He knew it was a Linked Earth Worlds cruiser, he had seen them many times and heard his father talk of them. It couldn’t see him, and that was a good thing.

He sighed again and got up; he brushed off his dirty clothes, consisting of dirty fabrics and extremely light leather. He picked up his blanket and brushed it of sand. He again looked out onto the plains of Warswick. Though Warswick was like any other terrestrial planet, the war took down most of its forests and it became more of a desert planet. Fort Heaven, HQ of the Rebel Alliance known as Hand of God, sat on rough, rocky terrain that came onto several hills. The orange rocks provided great cover, and the majority of it provided walls and ceilings to the fort, and the fort blended right into the terrain. There was grassland like area toward the east; the long, thin grass also providing more cover for Ruben when he went toward the river.

There it was again, Ruben dropped to the ground as he heard the rustle of a rock hitting sand. He scanned the land. Seeing nothing, he pressed on. He began moving closer near the fortress. He never liked it when that happened. He always felt like he was going to get caught. Going outside the fortress walls were forbidden to children. He also knew his father would be worried if he knew that his son was outside.

The rustle came again, and a third time. Ruben hit the ground. This time the rustle was closer. He looked around. This time he saw what he was looking for, the figure. He raised his binoculars and couldn’t help allowing his jaw from dropping.

Gilgathons.

He knew the monsters his father fought each day were scary, but he never thought of this. They had, what seemed like, dark green, scaly skin that covered their bodies. They wore clothes, these ones, but only one layered leathered toga tops, then hard leather pants with some sort of armored boot. They held their menacing rifles in their hands, dubbed “shredders” by the L.E.W. soldiers that first encountered them. They walked in squads dubbed “packs” for they always seemed to travel within their species. The “Pack Leader” could be seen clearly; he had an armored vest on over his toga top and an object that resembled a barbarian sword on his back. He snarled and pushed along the others, but even with that he tended to be calmer then the others, and he eyed the surrounding landscape.

They didn’t seem to see Ruben even though he clearly saw them. Ruben had never seen a Gilgathon in person before, only parcel pictures they once used to scare the kids from going outside. He had mixed feelings of thrill and fear when he saw them.

Suddenly, a gloved hand firmly gripped his shoulder and another his mouth and he was lifted into the air. He tried to scream but a second hand firmly held his mouth shut and muffled the majority of the sound he managed to make. He was lifted up and over a rock surface and was placed on the ground. A voice shushed him and he felt soothed, so he stopped his yelling.

He found himself looking into the face of his father, in his full battle gear of heavy red/orange leather and combat boots with his armored chest, shoulder, and pant guards on. The captain’s insignia on his left shoulder shined in the light, and his M8-7 Assault Rifle slung over his back. His eyes furrowed and he removed his hand from Ruben’s mouth and he placed his index finger over his lips, indicating Ruben to be quiet. Ruben nodded, and his father retrieved his Assault Rifle and aimed it over the side, looking at the Gilgathons to make sure they had not been seen.

Ruben tapped his father on the shoulder and pointed at the Gilgathons whispering, “Dad, Gilgathons.”

“Shhhh, we know,” his father said and he put his hand up to his right ear, where a com microphone sat.

Ruben’s father pressed a button on the bottom of the com set instead of the one on the side that was used to turn on the mic. He hit the button three times, indicating the “Engage” signal. Before Ruben knew it the air ripped with sounds of machine gun fire. Two different M-48 Chain Gun emplacements opened up on the Gilgathon pack and an assortment of Sniper and Battle rifle fire also was heard from the bunker emplacements that were usually hidden from view. The sudden burst of noise startles Ruben, but he quickly overcame the slight fear. Living in Fort Heaven, every child learns to be used to the constant gun fire and artillery shells.

The Gilgathons could not react fast enough to save their lives. The Pack Leader seemed to roar and push around others. Some managed to raise their Shredders and fire off some crisp, machine like rounds towards their entrenched attackers. After a minute the gunfire stopped. There was a pause as a Gilgathon Drone gurgled on the ground and a lone bullet casing fell, bouncing off every rock on its journey to the planet surface. The Gilgathon’s dying gurgles stopped, and then the hoots and shouts of soldiers were heard as they jumped from their hiding places and ran toward the dead bodies of the Gilgathons, retrieving guns and ammo and exchanging high-fives.

Ruben’s father let out a sigh and turned to Ruben. Ruben smiled sheepishly and looked at the ground.

“Wow, nice shooting dad,” he managed to say.

“Nice try,” his father said, placing his hands on his hips, “Now what are you doing outside the fortress walls, Ruben.”

“Nothing… I was just watching,” Ruben said, as his head sank to look at his father’s boots.

His father let out a sigh and looked out toward the dead pack.

“What were you thinking? They could have killed you. Anyone could have. You’re only four, Ruben.”

“Four and a half,” Ruben muttered.

His father just looked at him and muttered, “It doesn’t matter. There’s a war going on. You’re too young to be… out here. Ok?”

Ruben sighed, and his father kneeled and hugged him. His father rubbed his head, running his fingers through his dirty brown hair. Ruben smiled, and so did his father.

“Come on, let’s go,” Ruben’s dad said, as they got up and walked toward the fortress gates, “Why do I have the feeling you’re going to be more trouble then Lou and these Gilgathingys put together?”


His eye was on the mark, and he popped out another round. It hit the man in the face, splattered red. Ruben ducked behind the crumbling wall just in time for two projectiles to soar over his head, another young man wearing red hit the wall just behind him. Ruben made his way to the other end of the wall and peeked around the corner just in time to see two more men in blue light armor fire at him. He ducked back, and checked his gun and hopper.

“Damn, that was pretty close,” remarked the other man in red, “How’d you do that so fast?”

Ruben could hear the distant Putt-Putt-Putt of other guns in the distance, probably his team and another blue bunker. He peeked above the wall enough to see the ceiling and a little over the two blue soldiers and he saw a paint can above them. Bingo!

“You just gotta keep your head up,” said Ruben, aiming at the can, “And know where to look.”

Ruben took a shot, his round hitting the can and knocking it off the shelf. It spilt out red paint and it landed on one of the blue soldiers, who fell screaming.

The other soldier jumped to the side to avoid the paint, and in doing so, left his cover. Ruben poked around the corner and shot three more rounds at the blue soldier, red splattered his armor. He fell and Ruben got up looking for another fight, he noticed a two story tower, each team had one, and in it was a blue soldier looking at him. Ruben knew this was a sniper, and with his longer barrel he could get him with one shot at the long range.

“Nice shot!” exclaimed the other red soldier, “Now let’s go get ‘em!”

Ruben reached out his hand for the red soldier as he turned their cover and ran towards the tower.

“No, wait!” said Ruben, but he was too late.

The red soldier screamed and hit the ground, a blue splatter across his face. Ruben wanted to curse, but he had never really felt the need to so he never really cursed. Ruben took in a deep breath and rounded the corner.
Ruben aimed and shot off two shots, then waited a heartbeat, and shot off another. The sniper also shot of a round. The projectiles flew at each other. Ruben’s first round soared past the snipers round, but the second hit it dead on. A puff of blue and red appeared in the air like a firework. Ruben’s third shot went through it un-phased. Ruben’s first shot hit the sniper’s gun, splatting red paint all over his mask and armor. The sniper tried to wipe it out as Ruben’s third shot hit him dead in the chest, and he fell inside the tower.

Ruben waited, listening. He was rewarded when the sniper raised his gun yelling “hit”. Then a bell sounded, Ruben tore off his mask, and wiped a bit of blue paint off it.

“Blue team as been defeated, Red is victorious!” said a booming voice on a loudspeaker.

All the blue team members got off the ground and took off their masks, shaking their heads. One of them looked toward a window and pointed at Ruben.

“It’s unfair, Ruben took all of us out like nothing.” He exclaimed.

“It is fair, we switch team every game. Do not blame one man’s skill on a loss, or a victory,” recited the booming voice, “The Hand of God does not believe in one man’s power, but-”

“But the power of the whole, yeah, yeah! I get it,” said the blue soldier.
“You win when Private Onyx is on your team, remember that,” Said the booming voice.

“Yes, sergeant.” The blue player said and he headed past Ruben toward the locker room, which everyone else had also been heading towards.

Ruben allowed his cheeks to flush with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. This happened after every training exercise. Ruben didn’t fully understand it, all he wanted to do is be the best he could be, so he followed orders, followed his training, and did his best. He just wished the others weren’t so, against him.

“Yeah, but be grateful that he’s on our team and not Lou’s,” yelled a smaller man with blonde hair.

The man ran up beside Ruben, smiling, and they shook hands. Ruben smiled too and started walking with him to the locker rooms. Ruben was taller then him, but the man seemed to beam with energy, which attracted more attention.

“Thanks, Uri,” Ruben said.

“No problem,” answered Uri, who then lowered his voice saying, “but ya may want ta tone down the skill. Ya do make the rest of us look like losers.”

Ruben smiled, and nodded.

It was 15 years after Ruben saw the Gilgathon pack that day. He had grown into a fine young man, with a lot of extraordinary skills. He had, like most young men, joined the army, but he was always an outcast. Even his combat skills, which he mysteriously mastered, couldn’t make up for the marks on him. One was the mark of a L.E.W. citizen on his lower back. He never remembered getting it, just knew he had always had it. His father did not have one, and he figured out when he was 11 that his father was not his real father because of this. Another mark he didn’t recognize, nor did anyone tell him what it was, or what it meant. It was a tattoo of a prehistoric Velociraptor’s head on his right arm. The older officers and even the Hand of God Officials wouldn’t talk about it, but where obviously upset by it. He was never popular with anyone, and his father seemed upset with the officials for discriminating against Ruben for it.

Ruben’s father was an honored war hero, something he was always proud of. His name was Captain Jack Onyx; he had battled L.E.W. and Gilgathons alike and had countless victories with both in the name of Hand of God. He knew that Ruben would become a soldier like him, but he lamented the day. Ruben never knew why, he always wanted to fight alongside his father.

Ruben did join the army, he excelled in his class and, like the majority of recruits, his first course of action was defensive. He was put on “The Wall”, which is the main defensive line for Fort Heaven. Here, he met his first and best friend Uri Lorimar, a cocky Private with a big mouth. Though Ruben had other friends, the majority of them died in the major defense of the Battle of the Three Kinds, leaving him with just Uri as a friend.

Ruben put his mask and paintball gun into his locker. He began taking off his red armor as Uri put on deodorant. Uri turned to Ruben and thought about what he was going to say, Ruben noticed.

“What?” Ruben asked.

“Well, I was wonderin’ how I should ask out Linda,” said Uri.

“What?” Ruben muttered, chuckling, “You’re still on about her.”

“Well, what are you doin’ tonight?” asked Uri.

“What do you mean? We both are on night watch on The Wall,” Answered Ruben.

“Yeah, about that; you see,” started Uri.

Ruben put up his hand and shook his head, he put his practice gear into his locker and brought out his shoulder armor and armored pants.

“There’s no way we’re going to do another one of your stupid ideas,” said Ruben.

“But Ruben, there’s a party on the sixth and Linda’s going! It’s my chance!”

“But nothing, we got the detail and we’re going to pull our weight in the Hand of God,” answered Ruben.

“Exactly! Hand of God, not Hands of God, we all don’t pull the same wait. It just turns out that my weight is lighter then your fathers,” at this, Ruben gave Uri a stern glace, “Com’on Ruben,” begged Uri.

“Ok, ok. How about this, you go and I’ll take your place.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, we both know I can cover for both of us,” finished Ruben.

“Oh, wow, thanks buddy ol’ pal!” exclaimed Uri, who jumped up from the bench and started rubbing Ruben’s short brown hair, watching the dust fall as he said, “You’re a real savior, ya know? People are goin’ to adore you.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Really, girls will hang off you sayin’ ‘Oh, Ruby’,” said Uri, giving a bad impersonation of a girl.

“Knock it off, Uri. You’re embarrassing yourself,” said Ruben, pushing Uri away.

Ruben zipped up his leather gloves and grabbed his M8-7, and then he locked up his locker and turned in time to see Uri loading his Mark V pistol, and strapping it to his waist.

Ruben shook his head and said, “This is something else you owe me for.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll save you some cake, eh?” joked Uri, and Ruben smiled and left the locker room.


Last edited by comedianmasta on Fri May 08, 2009 12:39 pm, edited 10 times in total.



Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:57 am
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Ok, here's chapter Two. It has been recently updated to the point where I think we'll basically say it's done and it'll be sent off. We're getting so close to sending it off!!!
Hand of God

Captain Jack Onyx looked at his watch, 4:30 PM, and he cursed the day he lost his personal recording diary. He sat on a bench and waited outside the briefing room; he had no idea what this meeting was about; unless it included his son. Every Hand of God Official would be there. He didn’t really mind, they tried to be at every major meeting or debriefing. The order was from General Swahili, so Captain Onyx knew he’d be present.

He noticed his palms sweating, he wiped them on his pants, dust and dried blood flaked off. He hadn’t had time to change or clean up after his last mission. Defending their moister generators to the south east was a pain, and a long, tough couple of days. If those L.E.W. scouts didn’t show up it would have been so much easier. They had already lost one moister station to the Gilgathons already. Many men died in that fight.

A man with no armor ran by, most likely a Scout, sand trails following him down the hallway towards his destination. Captain Onyx then noticed a ruckus in the “parking lot”, which was really a docking bay with no ships or heavy vehicles: it housed all of the alliance’s L.R.V.s, or Light Reconnaissance Vehicles. It appeared to Captain Onyx that one of the Desert Rats, daredevil drivers of the L.R.V.s, drove in a L.E.W. Humvee, which was a pretty heavy vehicle to the alliance. People were hooting and hollering while they congratulated the squad that helped capture it during a raid.

A scrawny man with a French mustache poked his head out of the conference room and looked at the captain; he scowled and cleared his throat. The captain turned around and stood up.

“The officials will see you know, captain,” he said and walked into the room without waiting for a response.

Captain Onyx brushed some more dust off his armor and walked through the doors. Inside it reminded him of ancient roman coliseums, the speaker, accused, or battlefield models were on a podium in the center, as the officials sat in chairs around the podium, the podium was known as the “hot spot”. All of the official’s seats were filled.

There was General Raja Swahili who, despite his name, is from American decent. He was known to be fierce on the battlefield, and often fought in the dark. That earned him the legend that he could turn invisible during night assaults, for his dark skin helped conceal his presence.

Colonel Woodcock, the oldest official still in active duty, sat to Swahili’s right. He brushed his white walrus mustache with his fingers, as he talked with Colonel “Goliath” Gordon, who sat to Woodcock’s right. Gordon only got his nickname because he was easily the largest man in the alliance, but his condition had given him terrible knee issues, and so he was not seen in battle often.

Next, there was Major Sarah Shaft, who only got the rank because she was the only survivor of the first ever assault against the L.E.W. on Claron V. What she witnessed there left her mute, but her close friend, Elder Isabella, more than made up for it. Isabella was the oldest female and second oldest person in the alliance. She was always talking down about and criticizing the younger soldiers that were put on the “Hot Spot”.

The last was Elder Ronald, the oldest person in the alliance. His wrinkled face and bleach white hair only made his scrawny appearance more noticeable, and his long, snowy beard often touched the floor as he walked. Though no one knew his last name, the fact that “Ronald” is a rare name made up for it. He was also the only Ronald in the alliance.

Captain Onyx did not forget his manors and he bowed slightly to the officials.

“Please, come in Captain. We have a lot to talk about,” said General Swahili, and with that all side conversations stopped.

Captain Onyx swallowed and walked inside. He walked up onto the “Hot Spot”, where the house lights dimmed and a spotlight directly above the “Hot Spot” turned on, illuminating the Captain. The Captain shook his head, wondering if the officials tried everything they could to make the “Hot Spot” as fearful as the death penalty. The captain squinted his eyes through the light and stared at the officials.

“Ok, for the records, today we are talking with Captain Jack Onyx,” General Swahili stated into a mic and looked up at the Captain, saying, “Ok, let’s begin.”

“Did you not know today you were seeing the entire board of officials, Captain?” croaked Elder Isabella, and she displayed a disgusted look at the Captain.

“No, ma’am, I was aware of my appearance with the entire board,” answered Onyx.

“Yet you presented yourself like that? You have dust, blood, and dirt all over you, and you still wear your battle armor,” she continued, motioning at Onyx as you would a thief.

“Isabella, please. Leave his apparel alone,” commented Colonel “Goliath”.

“Yes, it is true that, Captain, you just returned from the battlefield?” questioned Colonel Woodcock.

“Yes, sir, the close quarter fighting proved our advantage against the L.E.W. sniper units,” answered Onyx.

“That I bet,” chuckled Woodcock at the thought, “And our generators?”

“Enough, to the topic on hand,” announced General Swahili, “Captain, we have to express some concern.”

“Yes, General, it’s about my son, isn’t it?” countered Onyx, leaving formality and displaying great irritation in his voice.

“Yes, it is,” stammered the General, but he recovered with, “The… boy… has proven himself an exceptional soldier.”

“We have learned a lot studying his progress,” butted in Ronald, “and he has shown ecstatic enthusiasm in his exercises.”

“I fine boy, I must admit,” smiled Goliath as he sipped some water next to him.

“We have seen the potential of the L.E.W. Raptors, but we know that their savvier training makes them stronger, more focused, and more battle ready then your boy could ever become,” said Colonel Woodcock, “But, the fear still lingers. If intelligence is to be believed, we may not be dealing with a boy, with a human. Ruben could still be some sort of monster that could snap at any time!”

“The boy worries us,” admitted Swahili, getting annoyed with the implementation that Ruben was actually Onyx’s son.

“Why?” asked the Captain, “He’s shown just as much loyalty to the cause as anyone else.”

“That is so, Jack, but he questions his origin. He already knows he holds the markings of a L.E.W. civilian, if he found out he was also a Raptor,” said the General, he looked at the other officials for advice and then turned back to Onyx, “The effects could be radical.”

“If you were so, would you not question you’re origin?” answered Onyx back, “Are questions sins now, General?”

“No! That is not what we’re saying,” Swahili said, waving his arms.

“Then what are you saying?” burst the Captain in anger, “Are you inquiring my son might turn on the alliance?”

“Jack, cool it, man; we’re just saying-” started the General, but Onyx interrupted.

“Let me tell you, I’ve raised my son the same way I would of-” and with that, he paused.

“Would have raised a real son?” finished Colonel Woodcock.

Captain Onyx looked at the ground and clenched his fists. He furrowed his brow and shook his head. General Raja sighed and looked at the paper work in front of him. Woodcock coughed and cleared his throat and Shaft leaned back in her chair.

“I’m sorry, Jack, the fact is he’s not your son, and because of that his being here and his loyalty is in jeopardy,” said the General.

“How many times is he going to have to prove his worth before anyone sees him as an equal?” asked Jack Onyx painfully.

There was a pause in the room, everyone shifted uneasily. Elder Ronald coughed, and Major Sarah Shaft shuffled some papers. Onyx sighed and leaned against the railings in defeat. He was getting so tired of the same old fights, the useless arguments with the officials. He was beginning to believe that they were going to ignore him and do away with Ruben, or subject him to some sort of extreme test.

“One more,” said Colonel “Goliath”, catching Onyx’s attention, “Just one more mission, Jack.”

Captain Onyx looked up suddenly, and the screen on the wall below where General Swahili sat lit up, showing the Hand of God symbol, a clenches fist reaching down from the clouds. The Hand of God emblem melted to the corner of the screen and two more images appeared. It showed a L.E.W. drop ship and a map of Warswick.

“This, Captain, is that chance. The L.E.W. have planned something big, it’s a massive covert ops mission at this site, in the now dubbed “Dune Sea”. All we know about it is that there have been Gilgathon sightings, but with no immediate importance to us we blew it off,” started “Goliath”, “but since the L.E.W. are so interested in planning an entire covert ops mission around it, I think we better be in on it. What we can see is it appears to be a highly equipped Marine unit and they’re coming straight out of one of those ships.”

“Ok,” answered Captain Onyx, as he looked over the map, “But what does this have to do with my son?”

“You and your team, now including your son, shall… eliminate them,” said General Swahili.

“You mean attack without cause?” asked Onyx, now with an angry look on his face.

“No, see here,” said Colonel Woodcock, “Think of it as a covert recon. Whatever they’re looking for, or attacking, is important enough to have such a group put together on the soul purpose of attacking or engaging them. This is also a… in field exercise for your son. May I remind you we have an observation post two miles south of the Dune Sea. If they scan around it or head right through it then that post is in jeopardy and our boys there will never stand a chance.”

“Besides, destroying such a large team could make our seriousness clear to the L.E.W. and if we find out that the ‘Dune Sea’ holds a higher importance than we thought then we must act on that. Surely you understand, Captain,” General Swahili assured.

Captain Onyx sighed, and thought about it. He knew the exercise might actually give his son equality in the alliance, but he knew putting his son, his team, and himself on a potentially suicidal mission for no reason clear to him was foolish. Though, he had been on this sort of mission before, one of which supplied them with an entire munitions supply the L.E.W. were hiding and collecting upon. He pondered it, and then he looked up into the eyes of General Swahili, who nervously looked away for a second.

“If you believe that sending me, my son, and a team of soldiers to a potentially suicidal mission is the best thing for the alliance then I shall accept.”

This made the officials fidget nervously and the General cleared his throat. Isabella gasped and was going to say something but Swahili silenced her with a movement of his hand.

“Who’s in my team?” asked Captain Onyx.

“You will have your regular squad, Captain. Let me see… Corporal Terkins, Sergeant Styx, Private Onyx,” the last part, the General looked at the Captains face, and then continued, “There’s the replacement Privates, Private O’Hara, and the Desert Rats, and… uh, whoever else you feel comfortable with.”

“Is Lieutenant Fox available?” asked Captain Onyx.

“No, he’s on a recon mission checking out ‘Sahara VII’,” answered Elder Isabelle.

“How about Lieutenant Lowles?” asked Onyx again.

“Yes, have you worked with her before?” questioned Colonel “Goliath”.

“Once, she is a fine leader and a fierce fighter. She’d be helpful on our team,” Captain Onyx remarked.

General Raja nodded, turning to his left and right, getting nods from the other officials. He shuffled some papers and returned his attention to Captain Onyx.

“It’s done, Jack, we’ll make the arrangements happen. Prep your team and be ready to leave in 900 hours. Oh, and by the way, Captain,” the General said, watching to make sure he had Captain Onyx’s full attention, “If you succeed, you may fine yourself Major Onyx.”

Captain Onyx smiled, knowing that if he survived he’d have been through enough stuff to earn him a General’s rank and retirement. He bowed, gave his “Good-Byes” and he turned and swiftly left the meeting room. Outside he took out a phone-like object, his P.I.T., a Portable Information Terminal, and sent E-Mails and Pages out to his new team to meet him in Section 7 Briefing room in 10 minutes. He also had to send one out to the “Head Rat”, what they call the commanding officer of the Desert Rats, that he needed some volunteers on a dangerous mission. With that, he power walked his way to the armory to see what he could get his hands on.


Last edited by comedianmasta on Sat May 09, 2009 2:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.



Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:38 am
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Chapter Three...
Briefing


Ruben sat alert, his eyes down the sights of his Assault Rifle. He scanned the rocky ground of Area 1, the HQ’s ground. He saw nothing, as usual. Another soldier beside him, Arnold, fidgeted and plugged back in his MP4 player. Ruben sighed, and then put his eyes back into the darkness.

The rocks that were usually an orange-red now looked like a dark red, and he thought it made the land of Warswick look like Hell if the flames ever died down. No moon was seen, for Warswick had no moon, but the light from the stars was more then enough to cast an eerie blue feel to everything. Without the sun over head, you could see the L.E.W. Navel fleet somewhat clearly. They all sat there, peacefully; the Battle Ships, Cruisers, Corvettes, the Flag Ship, Battle Cruisers, Carriers, and even the small Repair Bay was noticeable. The L.E.W. was lucky to have fleets like that, the Hand of God only has a few, civilian based, ships; only one, of which, has any form of weaponry.

Ruben heard Arnold curse, as he rolled up his earphones and MP4 and pocketed them.

“I hate that thing, we never have any batteries for them,” said Arnold.

“You should listen to that less, and Warswick more,” commented Ruben.

Arnold gave him a sarcastic look and commented, “Why should I? You’re here; you’re even covering for Uri.”

“Because it’s not about me, we’re all on the same team,” answered Ruben, “and I’m not always going to be here to cover for everyone.”

Arnold made a pig-like noise with his nose and looked at Ruben, sitting up straighter.

“All on the same team?” he started, giving Ruben a questionable look, “Most of us are, but you can never be sure who’s on who’s team, am I right?”

Ruben lowered his gun, looking at Arnold with a worried look on his face, he knew what was coming.

“What about you, Ruben? Everyone knows that you’re not, you know, from around here,” Began Arnold again, “you even have the mark of a L.E.W. certified civilian. Even you know it.”

“Shut up, Arnold,” muttered Ruben, now getting angry, “I know nothing of my past before the alliance, and I intend on keeping it that way. I grew up the same as you did, in the law and understanding of our cause.”

“Yeah right, dirty Raptor,” muttered Arnold, so quiet a regular man might have missed it.

Ruben’s keen sense picked it up easily, and his temper flared. He dropped his Assault Rifle and ripped out his knife from where it was strapped to his calf in a lightning fast speed. Equally fast, he was on top of Arnold, with the knife pressed to his throat. Ruben’s face was two inches from Arnold’s and he fiercely gazed into Arnold’s eyes.

“What did you call me?” yelled Ruben.

Arnold just stared back, looking both scared and angry at the same time. A click was heard from behind, and the sound of a round being cocked into a chamber. Ruben looked up to see a pistol in his face, and Sergeant Malcolm standing over him.

“Up,” was all Malcolm said, and Ruben quickly got off Arnold and returned his knife to its sheath so fast that the Sergeant had issues following him.

Ruben now noticed that Sergeant Malcolm had two more soldiers behind him, both looked surprised. Sergeant Malcolm put his pistol back into it’s holster. Arnold tried to get up but Malcolm pushed him back down with his boot, then he through Ruben his bag and P.I.T.

“Go,” said Malcolm.

“No sir, I can still watch. I just lost my cool, it won’t happen again,” answered Ruben.

“No, you got a message on that thing, from your Captain. You have a briefing to get to, go,” replied Malcolm, who turned towards Arnold.

Ruben looked puzzled, he did not yet have a team, or a Captain at that. He took out his P.I.T. and looked in his messages as he overheard Sergeant Malcolm ask Arnold, “Now, how do you justify your stupidity?” Ruben was confused, but he concentrated on his new message. It was from his dad, he sent out a message for his team to meet for briefing. He’s not in his dad team, or is he?

Ruben looked up, and thought. He then looked for the meeting point and he started running toward the Briefing room. He thought maybe, just maybe, this was the chance he was looking for.


Ruben turned the corner and walked into Section 7 Briefing Room. He stopped dead in his tracks, he didn’t see his dad, but some other people were present. There was, of course, some of the Desert Rats in a section talking together. There were some people he recognized. One was a girl with short, black hair. She wore standard issue uniforms, one of the only things that the alliance stood out for. He recognized her as one of his father’s original teammates, and recognized her from his childhood growing up. Sergeant Clara Styx was a good soldier, and a better sniper. Her skills saved his father more then a couple times. She was one of the few friends he had growing up.

Beside her, talking and bragging, was a skinny man, he wore his uniform loosely, showing his white tank top undershirt under his unbuttoned uniform. The Corporal’s insignia showed brightly on his hat. His freckled face and larger nose stuck out from under the visor, and his brown eyes darted from one spot to another. Corporal Leroy Terkins was always a good fighter, and quiet enthusiastic when it came to fighting L.E.W., but Gilgathons were a different story. Though he denied it, everyone knew he was deathly afraid of them. He hated fighting them and did all he could to avoid them.

Ruben was glad they were here, so he walked over to where they were sitting and pulled up a chair. When he arrived their faces lit up and they greeted him.

“Ruben, congrats!” Clara commented, shaking his hand.

“Yeah, now you’re with the big boys now, huh?” Leroy boasted, wrapping one arm around Ruben’s head and rubbing his fist in his hair.

Ruben did a crafty reverse and stared confusingly at Clara.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You don’t know? You’ve joined our team, Ruben. You’re now in a squad!” said Leroy.

Ruben suddenly felt his heart jump, this was it. He was now considered a real soldier of the Hand of God. He couldn’t hide a small smile.

“So, is that what this is about?” asked Ruben, but he already knew the answer.

“No, unfortunately it’s not,” said another man, who stood not far off, he came over and sat next to them, continuing, “This is going to be the real deal.”

This was someone else Ruben recognized. Private Dudley O’Hara was considered relatively new. He had joined Captain Onyx’s team when Ruben was 6, he proved himself almost immediately. He’s one of the few heavy weapon specialists in the alliance, carrying a heavy duty M-48 Chain, which is a more powerful version of the M8-7 Assault Rifle, they also hold a 12 Gauge Shotgun, automatic. The old fashioned shotguns, though hard to come by, are cheaper then the updated 9 Gauge, but the ammo is everywhere, used by everyone from civilians to L.E.W. Military. He also was certified in the use of a M7-K8 Rocket Launcher, which the Alliance only has 2 of.

Dudley, though actually Caucasian, had very dark skin, from the years of dirt and filth buildup. He shaved his head bald and scoffed people for their hair, like Leroy’s short blonde hair, because he finds hair a distraction. He is also a bigger man, with a bit of muscle from hefting around such heavy weapons all the time.

Dudley shook Ruben’s hand and welcomed him in as a tall, blonde woman, wearing sunglasses, came into the room and sat down. Leroy’s attention was immediately on her.

“Holy crap,” said Leroy, “It’s Lieutenant Lowles.”

Ruben looked and saw her, Clara did too, and she made a scoffing noise with her mouth and turned back to the group.

“What’s the big deal, Leroy?” she said, folding her arms.

“Well, duh, I didn’t know a woman was coming on this mission,” replied Leroy, staring sarcastically at Clara.

“Hey, I’m a woman,” said Clara, in a annoyed way.

“No, I mean a woman, woman. You know, with hair and lips and a figure and such. One who actually has enough junk to be considered a woman.

At this Clara got up and punched Leroy in the shoulder, the force knocked him off his chair and onto the floor. Ruben and Dudley immediately started laughing. Clara sat down and crossed her legs and arms. Leroy got up and made sure no one else had seen that, and he turned back to the group.

“See? Real girls can’t hit like that. You just settled my point,” sputtered Leroy.

“No, you just ruined yours. You know nothing about Lieutenant Lowles, do you?” Clara said, glaring at Leroy.

“Besides she’s the sexiest woman in the alliance?” answered Leroy.

“Amen to that, brother,” said Dudley and the two high-fived each others.

“No, I mean she’s a real bad-ass. She makes me look like a real sissy,” whispered Clara, and she pointed at the Lieutenant for emphases, “She’s a good shot, a fearless warrior, and a war hero.”

“Yeah, but not like ol’ Captain. He’s a war hero three times over,” said Dudley.

“Uhg, forget it. You guys are only looking at her breasts any way,” said Clara, turning away with a sour look on her face.

“I’m not,” Ruben replied, as a man with glasses sat down with them.

“Hey guys, am I late?” said the man, he had dirty blonde hair, as in dirty blonde hair. He was scrawny and his glasses had a crack in the left lens. He had a belt of electronics.

“No, Dex, you’re fine,” said Clara.

“Hey, it looks like you finally made it, congrats,” said Dex, shaking Ruben’s hand.

“Thanks, are you going on this trip? I don’t remember you being on my dad’s team?” asked Ruben.

“Oh, no, not me. I’m no field man. I’m also not surprised you’ve never heard of me. I’m Corporal Dexter Kings. I’ll be monitoring you’re progress and giving you tech support from right here at HQ.”

“Oh,” said Ruben.
He was going to ask another question but it was quickly thrown aside as the door to the room closed and a small door to the back of a pedestal opened, and Captain Onyx walked in.

All talking ceased, and the Captain came to the pedestal and put down a bunch of papers, inserted a disk into a slot on the pedestal, then turned to the people in the room.

“I thank you all for coming, is there anyone not present?” said the Captain, he looked around, secretly counting.

At having found that no one was absent, he dimmed the lights and turned on a screen, which was located directly behind him on a wall. It lit up, showing a variety of pictures, like one of Warswick, the L.E.W. symbol, and the Hand of God’s symbol. The Captain cleared his throat and looked out into the small crowd.

“As some of you may have noticed, this is going to be a fairly deadly, but fast mission. Our objectives are simple, so we don’t have a large amount of us here,” started the Captain, looking around at the various faces, “We are taking four L.R.V.s, two of which will be transports. The team consists of my original squad, Sergeant Styx,”

When her name was called, Clara stood and nodded to the people around the room.

“Corporal Terkins,” Leroy stood and nodded.

“Private O’Hara,” Dudley did the same as the first two.

“P-Private Onyx”

At this, Ruben stood up, and all heads turned and stared at him. Ruben felt strange; maybe it was the stutter in his father’s voice, but he nodded and sat back down any way. Some more Private’s names were called, people Ruben didn’t recognize, but people’s eyes still seemed to be on Ruben. People whispered and some pointed. Ruben felt weird and he sunk deeper into his seat.

“Also, joining us is Lieutenant Lowles, and Sergeant Grandee,” continued Captain Onyx.

At this, both Lieutenant Lowles and another man stood and nodded. Then Captain Onyx said some names of the Desert Rats that would be driving the L.R.V.s and he continued with the presentation.

“This is an area known as the ‘Dune Sea’,” started the Captain, the picture of Warswick zoomed in on a desert like place, there was some canyons, that seemed to go into nowhere, but otherwise nothing could really be seen.

“Besides a few Gilgathon sightings,” said the Captain, and at this Leroy turned white, “there’s nothing here of any importance to us, but there appears to be something here of interest to the L.E.W.”

At this, the picture of the L.E.W. symbol switched to a shot of three transports. There were space ships shaped like a flat egg, with three engines in the back. The armor was tough in some places, but weak in others. They had 7, what was called, “Rapid Drop Pods”. They were something that looked like a seat, that when they first go into battle they would drop and hang from the bottom of the transport in a fast manner, which would deploy 7 of any infantry unit quickly into battle. Their job was to cover the transport as it landed and opened up two side doors, which would allow the rest, and majority, of the troops inside to engage and land. They were the terror of rebels being ambushed and the savior of outnumbered L.E.W. soldiers.

“The L.E.W. have sent out a covert ops team, well… several of them, to this location,” continued Onyx.

“Let me guess,” shouted Leroy, “We gotta go and find out what they want, and if it turns out to be important we gotta get to it before them.”

“Incorrect, Leroy,” said Onyx, shaking his head, “but close. You see, if we find out what they’re there for then we act based on that, unfortunately for them our main mission is to find them and engage them.”

The room was quiet. No one moved, no one talked. They all stared at Captain Onyx, and he back at them. After a while he sighed, and pressed a button. The screen holding the Hand of God’s symbol changed to show the “Dune Sea” and three blue triangles, indicating the L.E.W. transports, and four red Hs, indicating the alliance’s L.R.V.s. They collided and a giant purple X appeared where they met up.

“So… what?” said Dudley.

“Basically, we are just… attacking a force that outnumbers and outguns us for no known reason?” asked Lieutenant Lowles.

“Yes, unfortunately for us. All we have to do is ride up, shoot at them, and when they all die, or retreat, we come home.”

Everyone still sat and looked at Onyx. They shook their heads. Captain Onyx sighed and withdrew the disk.

“We leave first thing in the morning. You have till then to prepare. Please take at least 5 minutes of solid sleep. See you in the morning.” And with that, Captain Onyx saluted and left the room.

Many scrambled to their feet to try and return the salute, but didn’t catch him. Sergeant Clara quickly got up and left, Leroy and Dudley stretched as they watched her leave.

“So what’s her problem?” asked Leroy.

“I think you might have hurt her feelings,” replied Ruben.

Ruben gave his farewells to Leroy and Dudley and he gathered his things and headed off to his dormitory. He had a big day tomorrow.


Commentary on Chapter One Comming Soon... *Sometime late tomarrow maybe* Feel free to comment!


Thu Aug 14, 2008 7:27 pm
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Cleansing Warswick: Chapter One COMENTARY!

Ok, where do I start? Chapter one is kinda, well, (like every book) is the opening to the story. It's gonna set the pace, either for the conflict or the main character. I wanted to show how Ruben grew up, with one stage (his young stage) of his life and the now stage of his life (present).

We begin seeing young Ruben; you can tell that he's pretty advanced for a child his age. He has makeshift camouflage, and his keen senses, which we begin to see, help him out in the open. You get a feel of the world of Warswick, kinda the dark and desolate place you expect a planet to be. Now, Warswick is actually quiet a prosperous planet, but since the Gilgathons have been released, much of the planet has turned to the desert-like terrain. The LEW/Gilgathons war has left the still growing cities and, in some areas, small towns in ruins, and much of the trees have been burnt and blown away. The area around the temple used to be forest-like. But the Gilgathons makeshift war factories have chopped away most of the surrounding foliage to work their furnaces.

We get out first look at the Gilgathons, our actual first look at them, and the introduction of the Gilgathons main force, the Drones. You get a look at their look; I was going for a reptilian slimy/ bug/amphibian creature.

Anyway, you kinda see what’s goin on with the Hand of God. You see their training program, an exercise designed to strengthen team work and heighten reflexes. I decided to do a paintball style makeup. You also get to see how others think of Ruben, and you meet Ruben’s only friend (of his age that’s alive), Uri.

Ok, I’d like to go further, but I’m a little busy. So, that’s the commentary for today.

EDIT: Character Bios.

Private Ruben Onyx: An orphan left behind by an unknown L.E.W. team, close to nothing is known about his past before Captain Onyx came and claimed him as his own. Growing up in the alliance like countless others, he is in the group known as the “Alliance Kids” (kids who have grown up in the Hand of God). Unfortunately, knowing he is a registered L.E.W. civilian leaves many unsure about him. Also, the mark of a L.E.W. Raptor leaves him very unpopular with the Alliance’s officials. Being a Raptor, by nature, he has heightened senses like sight, hearing, and reflexes to name a few. All he wants is to be treated as an equal among his friends.

Captain Jack Onyx: A brave and noble war hero, he joined the alliance for the same reason as the rest of the people did. He’s proven himself a worthy worrier to any army. He is the first on the alliance’s list when a dangerous mission comes around, even though his older age is making him a less physically accepting candidate. His recent investment was with a child he found, Ruben, and that has earned him not a very good name in the alliance.

Private Uri Lorimar: A sparky young fellow fresh out of boot-camp. He is one of Ruben’s only true friends, but takes advantage of Ruben’s skill for his own advantage, sometimes. Despite these acts, he is very loyal and has a deep, personal link with everyone he meets, good or bad. He’s passionate about everything he does, and would much rather be “savin’ the world with my best friend at my side.” He, like Ruben, is part of the first generation born as official Hand of God citizens, and part of the first generation of true Hand of God soldiers. Forced into fighting, he sees some of the most extreme bits, and immerges from his usual comedic self into a more, serious minded leader.


Last edited by comedianmasta on Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:46 am, edited 1 time in total.



Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:40 pm
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dude your my best bud, kudos.
comedianmasta wrote
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Corporal Leroy Terkins was always a good fighter, and quiet enthusiastic

fix please
entire story is a 9/10 (would have gotten a ten but thats only when you fix)
awsome

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A flea and fly in a flue, Were imprisoned so what could they do? Said the flea let us fly. Said the fly let us flee. So they flew through a flaw in the flue.


Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:12 pm
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Please Note, I dos creen all my work, but sometimes get past me. Thanks for your comments Mikael, keep it up like that. I'm updating the first post to deal with changes in the thread. Feel free to continue reading and posting your comments. (Notice, in this next chapter, and more to come, many words may seem to be spelt wrong. Be sure to voice your concern, but many words are made up/soposed to be used. You may have noticed this in dialogue too, it's ment to be. Please, voice your concern, but note most of the time it's ment to be. Thanks)

Chapter Four

Departure


Rebuz straightened one of his medals on his tunic, his dress robes swirling behind him as he walked down the corridor. Only he and Grunites were this far into the Elvidion flagship. The Protice liked their peace and privacy. He had to dodge a group of Grunites as they hauled a difibulizer down the corridor.

He was one of the few Zul’ Nugul who actually had respect for the Grunites. They were dwarfed and only stood a gzion tall, which would be four human “feet”, while Zul’ Nugul stood almost two gzions. They needed optic aids for their huge eyes, and they had bumpy bluish skin, unlike Zul’ Nugul’s smooth black skin. With their bodies holding little importance in the Elvidion’s working and military world, they instead trained their minds. They became highly intelligent, making them the engineers and technicians of the Elvidions. Since they were claimed that, their bodies degraded less physically but they’re minds exploded, giving them a little bigger head and a new dialect in they’re speaking.

Rebuz approached the Protice’s chamber doors, where four honor guards stood. The honor guards were Zul’ Nugul, but they had no combat mechanical armor suits. Instead, they wore a type of armor that hugged their bodies, and instead of the new projectile/plasma haulers, named Twilight Swords; they have giant plasma Spear-Axes, that are as deadly as any projectile or bomb in the claws of a master honor guard.

They didn’t turn their heads, but their eyes immediately locked on to Rebuz. Rebuz nodded to his fellow Zul’ Nugul, knowing they were disciplined enough not to nod back he was not hurt by their stillness. He approached the door and waited, a Grunite in fancy dress robes sat in a pedestal next to the door watched over a monitor. He looked up at the Zul Nugul.

“Do you hold an appointment with the Protice?” asked the Grunite.

“Yes, I’m Coinshack Rebuz.” replied Rebuz.

The Grunite looked down on the monitor and typed on a keypad. He looked up and nodded, he pressed some more buttons and waited.

“Enter, Zul’ Nugul,” said an older voice from a speaker on the monitor.

Rebuz nodded toward the Grunite and stepped toward the doors. They glowed a bit, and then retracted to either side of the wall. Rebuz walked into the room, and the doors quickly shut behind him. He recognized the chamber from past visits. It was amazingly huge; the only lights were some crystals that lined the way to a platform, the wrapped around it. Everything else seemed to stretch forever into the darkness, he knew the Protice were up there, so were they’re books and archives and shrines.

He walked to the platform, and stood in the middle. The platform beeped, and lit slightly purple. All the crystals lighting the path dimmed, and the ones around the platform brightened, the platform rose into the air. After a bit, it slowed down then stopped, hovering in the air. Rebuz looked around, and then they appeared.

Bigger crystals that were on the wall around him lit up, showing the Protice. They were like the Zul’ Nugul, with hoofed feet, long arms, and smooth skin. Unlike Zul’ Nugul, they stood a bit shorter, they’re skin was a lighter brown, they’re arms were longer and they’re heads seemed bullet shaped, with a flat head and a rounded chin, unlike the Zul’ Nugul’s larger forehead and chin and top of head rounded. They sat in chairs that hovered as far as the platform did, designed to freely navigate through Elvidion ships and hover 7/8ths of a Gzion over a planet’s surface. Some of them wore small hats, which also were flat on top. They wore elaborate dress robes and medallions from all over their galaxy.

Rebuz could spot the Head Protice, Zasz, amongst them. He wore an elaborate head dress, with feathers and stones from throughout the galaxy. His robes were a lot longer and colorful, and he wore something similar to human shoes. He, like other Protice, has facial hair that resembles human beards. Zasz eyed Rebuz for a bit, then came closer.

“In ancient times, a time before Elvidion rule, our god created a species to honor and praise him throughout time. For a while, the primitive Elvidions prospered in his grace, but then the Demon of Lore appeared, and introduced sin into our world. When our god could not get our mortal selves to oversee it, he knew we were lost to our sins. He left us to go create another race, which as the Profit Indoa foresaw was in his own image. Since then we have repented our sins and evolved to decide we should search the galaxy looking for them, so we may learn from them. We have found two species since then. The Gilgamites who are the work of the Demon of Lore, and these humans,” said the Protice Zasz.

“These humans are an outrage to our god. They are sinful and primitive compared to us and our foretold brother species,” said Protice Serks, his voice raspy and angry.

“Yes, but their religion they call “Judaism” and one they call “Christianity”; it is undeniably the work of our god,” replied Protice Zasz, “So they are our brother species, just lost like we were. For centuries we’ve followed they’re growth, watching them cast down they’re religion and shamefully continue with they’re lives. We have remained hidden from them, until the time to show ourselves.”

“After all our work, you are ready to just throw it aside like nothing,” croaked Protice Serks.

“No, great Protice,” replied Rebuz.

“We know, from your last documentation, that the humans had, indeed, found the stone?” said Protice Zasz.

“Yes,” said Rebuz, “and I have terrible news. The humans brought the stone to the temple and released the beasts.”

There was some gasps and talking among the Protice and Zasz’s face saddened.

“What do you suggest we do now? These foolish humans have destroyed what we have worked on for millenniums!” rasped Serks.

“So, the chances have changed, we are aware of they’re actions, Rebuz. What do you suggest?” asked Zasz calmly.

“I do not know, we must reveal ourselves to contain the beasts again,” said Rebuz.

“The Gilgamites are a learning race; we have learned that in combat against them. They will know of us trying to carbon freeze them and they will fight longer, harder, and fiercer to keep that from happening,” explained Zasz.

“Then what do you say, great Protice,” Rebuz asked.

“Hmm… well since they haven’t had time for any serious evolution and the Mother Mind is still in deep freeze, maybe if the queen was eliminated then we could continue to let the humans slowly destroy them,” said Protice Zasz.

“Is that possible? Can our force here manage that?” asked Rebuz.

“Of course, I’m sure. But it is not the force that will reveal itself,” commented Serks.

“I don’t understand, great Protice,” asked Rebuz.

“You will lead a small team, of your choosing, onto the planet Warswick and place this disrupter crystal onto the queen,” said Zasz, as a giant blue crystal on another, smaller platform lowered from someplace above beside Rebuz’s platform.

Rebuz looked at the crystal, then at the Protice asking, “Me, great ones?”

“You are now promoted to Tork, Rebuz. A small team of your choosing and yourself will head planet side when you’re ready. Then, if you fail, I promise we will head planet side with full force and avenge your deaths, but until then we must wait until the perfect time to appear,” said Zasz.

Rebuz bowed and grabbed the crystal saying, “I thank you, Protice. I will not fail you.”

“May god watch over you, Tork Rebuz,” said Zasz, and the giant crystals dimmed and eventually ceased to produce light, and Rebuz’s platform began to lower back to the ground floor.

Rebuz thought of who to bring, with his new rank he now held the power to command instead of being commanded. He smiled to himself, and walked out of the chamber.


Ruben slapped Uri a high five, they both stood in the lot, eyes linked. Ruben wore rare, full battle armor, like his father. Chest plate, shoulder armor, armored leggings, cup, utility bag and belt, and his assault rifle slung over his back. He also put on his recruit cap, just for Uri, instead of wearing a battle helmet like Leroy’s, or Clara’s full faced one.

“I can’t believe you made it, man. It’s good to see you finally able to use all of your skills and not have to hold back, it’ll be a learnin’ experience. I only wish I could come along,” said Uri, as he watched the L.R.V.s pull up.

“Don’t worry, I’ll come back. Besides, it’s not a normal mission. You wouldn’t like it. The wall needs you,” joked Ruben.

“Screw dat,” replied Uri with a chuckle and they both laughed together.

“Speaking of which, how did last night go?” asked Ruben.

Uri thought before answering, “Well, I didn’t get her, but at least I didn’t get denied.”

They both high fived again and finished they’re farewells.

“Ruben, come on. We’re loading up,” yelled Clara from the transport L.R.V.

“Alright, I’m commin’,” yelled Ruben back.

He said good-bye one last time before running over to the L.R.V. He saw that everyone was loading up, the two lighter ones already had they’re drivers and gunners set, while one of the transports was close to being ready to go. The seating worked so that the smaller L.R.V.s only had two seats, the driver and the gunner in the back. While transports had a driver, a passenger, and for passengers in the back, two stood and two sat down; making the passenger and the two standing passengers gunners. Captain Onyx came up and stood on the passenger seat of one of the transports.

“Alright,” he started, “Let’s go out and do this right, I want 100% from all of you, we do it right we come home alive. Lock and Load up!”

With that, the L.R.V.s rumbled to life and everyone started to board. Captain Onyx sat in the passenger seat of one of the transports, and Clara walked over to it, waving Ruben over. As Ruben walked over he saw Lt Lowles get up on the standing part of one, Ruben went to get onto the other but was pushed aside by Leroy.

“Excuse me,” Leroy said as he jumped up next to Lt Lowles and loaded his Assault Rifle.

“Morning, Ma’am,” he said, with a goofy smile on his face, she just gave him a smile back and rolled her eyes, loading her M9-4 Battle Rifle.

The Battle Rifle was a new supped up version of the assault rifle, except it has a four round burst and a scope. It’s mainly used for officers rather then regular soldiers, especially in the alliance. Captain Onyx also has a battle rifle, which he loaded and sat ready to shoot.

Clara rolled her eyes at Leroy and smiled back at Ruben, saying, “Never mind him, sit here, next to me.”

Ruben sat next to Clara in the back and Ruben waved to Uri. The L.R.V. Transport jumped forward a bit, then the L.R.V.s rolled down the parking lot like bay and rolled out the door, as soon as they left the Desert Rats put the L.R.V.s pedal to the medal.

“Don’t worry,” Clara yelled over the roar of the motor, “Everyone’s a little nervous they’re first mission.”

“I’m not nervous,” replied Ruben.

“Of coarse he’s not,” said Leroy, “He’s got me backing him up, and he’s his father’s son. He’ll be remarkable.”

“You backing him up? You can’t do crap,” said Clara, almost in a laugh.

“Yeah, you say that now, but soon there’ll be signs everywhere praising Sergeant Leroy Terkins, the war hero.” Said Leroy, in a dreamingly sort of way.

“Hey, I’m the sergeant,” said Clara, looking at Leroy.

“Yeah, but I can’t call you Sarge, that’ll be weird,” remarked Leroy.

“Ah, so you’re Corporal Terkins, huh?” said Lt Lowles.

Leroy stood a bit straighter and cocked his eyebrows a bit before saying, “Why, yes I am.”

“Oh, so you’re the fierce fighter who cringes at the name Gilgathons, right?” Lt Lowles said.

Clara and Ruben couldn’t help but laugh, and Leroy lost his smirk and turned away. A click was heard on Ruben’s team headset, and Dex’s voice rang over the speaker.

“Sounds like she just burnt you good, Leroy,” he said.

“Go to hell and burn, Dex,” replied Leroy, and Dex, Ruben, and Clara broke out into more laughter.

“Two minutes to mission point!” yelled the Desert Rat in the lead, and the transports seemed to move into a line; smaller, two transports, and another smaller.

Ruben placed his head up against the frame of the L.R.V. and closed his eyes. He’d need his rest.


Sun Aug 17, 2008 8:46 am
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After much thought, rereading, previewing, and waiting, I have decided this chapter wasn't as bad as I thought, and left it untouched as I post it. again, for this, I want to urge this book as rated T for Teen. If you are not allowed to see rated PG-13 movies or higher, play rated T games, read any mature books (like Tom Clancey) completley through, or you've replied to someone with "You're Mom" in the last week, you probably shouldn't read this book, and this next part.

Galar, please PM me if I do need to edit this, I will be willing to. I was reluctant on posting it, for it's the "worst" I've written. Besides that, have fun and enjoy the beggining of the action in Cleansing Warswick!




Dune Sea


The ship jerked as it hit some turbulence. Frank held tighter to the handle, and checked his Assault Rifle. Safety was on, good. He looked up and down the infantry bay of the transport. He saw the rest of his platoon, all wearing their shiny marine blue armor. They had their various rank insignias right over the L.E.W. patch. There was various coughing and whispering throughout the hull.

A man with darker skin walked down the hull, he had a half finished cigar in his mouth, a sergeant’s cap on his short black hair, and a battle rifle and shotgun slung on his back. He looked each man he passed in the eye, a cold look on his face. When he reached the end, near the pilot’s door, he turned and faced the men.

“Listen up, marines,” he bellowed, all the men turned and stood at near attention, “Yesterday an observation post near here lost contact and our reinforcement group was totally wiped out. Their last transmission reported they saw the Boogie Man. The L.E.W. decided it was a good time to send some marines down here and see what we can find. So, our mission is to land near the observation site, find the Boogie Man, and kick some Boogie Man Ass!”

The man waited, listening to the sound of the ship, his eyebrows scrunched as he shouted, “Am I right, marines?”

Together, all the marines in the ship yelled, “Sir, yes sir!”

“Mhmm, damn right I am. Now lock and load and prepare to hit dirt,” he said.

“Sergeant,” yelled Frank, the sergeant shot Frank a dirty look a walked up to him.

“Can I help you understand something Private!” yelled the sergeant.

“Sir, who is our contacts on this mission,” asked Frank.

The sergeant gave an amusing look and replied, “We have no damn clue, there have been Gilgathon sightings all over this place, and that was what the last transmission said, though I wouldn’t put it past those walking pieces of snot to be waiting for us.”

“So does it mean that you don’t know, sir?” asked Frank.

The sergeant gave Frank an angry look and pointed at him.

“You listen here, Private… Dufraine,” started the sergeant with a small chuckle in his voice, other chuckles were heard as he continued, “We are not paid so little as to only prepare for one situation or to know what we’re going into, we’re paid to go into combat not knowing what the hell’s going on, only knowing that if they’re against the L.E.W. we gotta kick their ass, am I right?”

The marines around Frank yelled, “Hoo-Rah!”

“Mhmm, damn right I am, now get tactical!” yelled the sergeant, and he walked back up toward the front.

The speaker next to his seat turned on, some static was heard than it cleared.

“Sergeant McCoy, I got something up ahead. It’s not Gilgathon,” said the pilot.

“Speak English,” said the Sergeant.

“Sir, it’s Hogs,” said the pilot.

“Oh, those rebel bastards, couldn’t keep they’re nose out of our business, huh?” said the Sergeant.

“Should we engage? It’s your call, Sarge,” said the pilot.

“Ok, I want the other two transports to break up and go around them, we’ll engage these Hogs and show them some marine furry!” said the sergeant.

“Yes, sir, Pod crews, prepare for rapid decent,” said the pilot, and a beeping was heard in the middle room.

Frank checked his Assault Rifle again; the cylindrical clip was in tight. He made sure his armor was on tight, what did he forgot. Frank watched as other marines put on their full faced helmets. Helmet! Frank had brought his in for repair and forgot to get it. Frank swore under his breathe; he knew a good marine never forgot anything.

Another alarm was heard as the pilot’s voice yelled, “Dang, there’s heavy fire, the LZ is hot; rapid team, careful, drop in ten.”

Guns were heard outside, the transport lone 50 cal. opened up. Then the woosh of the pods dropping filled Frank’s ears, and more gunfire was heard. After a bit, a red light toward the tail end of the transport turned on.

“Main drop force, prepare to drop,” said the pilot, but no sooner had he finished an explosion was heard and the transport jerked.

“What’s going on?” asked a marine from the back.

“Dang, critical hit! Engines systems failure,” yelled the pilot through the speakers, and then he started to cough terribly, saying, “Smoke… in the cabin. Mayday!”

“Pilot, drop us,” said the sergeant into the radio.

“Sir, we’re still pretty high up,” coughed the pilot.

“Drop us,” said the sergeant again, and he moved down the hull a bit and faced the doors.

The red light at the back began to pulse and Frank felt the transport jerk downward again.

“Marines, I have killed over 100 rebels by myself in one battle. They aren’t soldiers; they’re angry civilians with guns. Fear nothing, and send them to hell!” yelled the sergeant, and the light towards the back turned green and another alarm turned on again, and a whistle was heard.

The giant hull doors opened, and the sergeant jumped out before they were fully opened. Frank followed his fellow marine toward the doors, and the marines went to jump out. A man a few marines down from Frank got hit twice by bullet fire and Frank heard the pings of bullets hitting around the door around him. Another man got hit, and fell from the transport screaming. Frank reached the edge and jumped, hitting the ground hard, it was only about a ten foot drop, but in battle everything felt longer.

Frank checked to make sure a round was in the chamber and he looked toward the rebels. He saw four of their dune buggy/ go-cart recon vehicles, two of which had 50 calibers mounted on the back. There didn’t seem to be much cover anywhere, but the rebels seemed to have used some sand dunes to try to hide themselves as much as possible. They didn’t look like civilians, all he saw were soldiers shooting at him. He saw the sergeant yelling and chanting the marines on, and around the area the marines stood, a lot of dead bodies lay, turned the orange sand dark orange with they’re blood. The sand seemed exceptionally soft, and soaked up the blood like sponges.

Frank put his thoughts aside, raised his gun, and pulled the trigger.


Ruben’s head span, he ducked his head again. Bullets zinged over his head, he peaked up again. There had to be an entire platoon of L.E.W. in that transport, and now they all had they’re guns pointed at him. Leroy, who was a few feet next to him, screamed curses and threats to the marines as he fired his assault rifle.

The marines had dispersed from their transport, and were throwing some hard fire their way. Ruben took in a breath, and looked around. A few soldiers had already fallen on his side, no one he knew. His father was a bit to his left, firing with a group of soldiers. Clara had taken cover a few feet behind him, firing her C-17 Sniper Rifle, each shot getting a marine in the head. In front of one of the L.R.V.s was Dudley, firing wildly at the L.E.W., as was Lt Lowles, who was next to one of the smaller ones firing off her battle rifle.

Ruben raised his assault rifle, and put his sights on one marine. He fired, and saw the marine shudder under his bullet barrage. The marine fell, and he turned his sights to a sniper marine, who was loading a round into the chamber. Ruben pressed the trigger again and the sniper and another L.E.W. soldier next to him fell.

The transport shuddered a bit, but didn’t fall. The machine gun turned and fired at Lt Lowles and the L.R.V. she used as cover. The Desert Rat who drove got hit, a blood cloud erupted behind him, and he dropped his only weapon, a M8-7 Pump, and he dropped to the ground. The gunner on the L.R.V. also got hit, and he fells to the ground. The transport stopped firing for a bit as it struggled to stay airborne. Lt Lowles left her cover and climbed aboard the L.R.V.’s 50 caliber gunner’s spot, and she manned the gun. She shot at the transport and the transport shuddered a bit then shot at the L.R.V. again. Bullets pinged off the frame, and a few hit the Lieutenant in the legs, and she let out a scream. Her scream was cut short as one of the bullets hit the gas tank, it’s sparks igniting the fluid. The L.R.V. exploded, and engulfed the lieutenant in flames.

“Miranda!” yelled Captain Onyx.

“No!” yelled Leroy as he turned and shot a few more shots at the L.E.W. forces.

There was a slight tremor, the dirt and sand shot up about a half a mile away. Most of the L.E.W. and Hand of God soldier’s attention turned on it, and for a little bit some gunfire stopped. Then figures started climbing out of the newly made holes in the ground. When they stood in the sunlight, the sun’s light reflected off their Shredders and armor, and their skin gleaned.

“Gilgathons!” yelled a marine, and the marines quit firing on the rebels and shot at the creatures, as they ran toward their location.
Captain Onyx looked around, and stopped shooting at the L.E.W., too, and began firing on the Gilgathons threat. The transport, now being fired upon by Gilgathons, shuddered and a blast erupted from the boiler. It drifted back and crashed into the sand and dirt. Smoke rose from the wreckage.

Leroy primed a grenade, and looked at Ruben, and nodded.

“This is for Lt. Lowles!” he yelled, and he through the grenade.

The grenade did not go far, it landed in the soft sand between the marines and the Rebels. Before it exploded, it sank into the sand. Leroy looked puzzled at the place his grenade had been, and looked at Ruben. Ruben was a bit surprised, he didn’t know if it was supposed to do that. Then the grenade detonated, throwing up sand and dirt. The earth beneath Ruben’s feet shook a little, and seemed to have shaken the L.E.W. forces as well. Everyone stopped firing for a moment.

When the dirt from the grenade settled, the place the grenade had been had turned into a giant funnel, and the sand seemed to have been just falling through it. Ruben felt the sand under him begin to get dragged toward the hole. He looked at Leroy, and Leroy at him.

“What did you do?” asked Ruben.

“I don’t know,” answered Leroy.

Another tremor was felt, then a giant crack seemed to have appeared in the ground, and all the sand was pulled into it. Some of the soldiers around Ruben got pulled in, and screamed as they fell into the depths. Ruben jumped to his feat and tried to move backwards, and he saw the marines getting sucked in as well. Some of them were already falling into the unknown abyss.

“Pull back!” Ruben heard his father yell.

He turned around and went to run for it, but his feat kept sinking into the sand and pulling him back.

“Ruben, help!” Leroy yelled.

Ruben turned to see Leroy on his stomach trying to crawl; his legs had sunk into the sand. He heard Clara yell something and she ran toward them. Dudley motioned Ruben back toward the L.R.V.s, which seemed unaffected by the sand. Ruben shook his head and turned around and ran toward Leroy. Leroy was closer to the crack now, and was frantically trying to crawl away from it. Ruben ran up to him and hoisted him up, so that he could run. They both went to run toward the L.R.V.s, but they’re legs kept sinking and sinking into the sand.

Then Ruben felt the sand turn thin, and nothing held him up. He looked back and saw they were now falling into the crack. Leroy fell into the blackness, screaming. Ruben turned, in time to see Clara, waist deep in sand, also fall over the side not too far away. Dudley had run not to far away, and reached out his hand for Ruben to hold onto. Ruben gripped at the sand, trying desperately not to fall. His legs flailed in the air. He reached out one hand, but felt himself slip away into a free fall. All he had time to do was yell as he felt himself slip into the blackness. Dudley’s hand caught out of sight, but not for long as Dudley’s figure fell over the edge, too.

Ruben closed his eyes, and he could of sworn he heard his father yelling his name.


Captain Onyx saw Ruben go over the side. His heart became heavy, and he felt his eyes water. Dudley turned around to head back, but was too late as he, too, fell into the crack.

“Ruben, no!” he yelled.

He felt himself being dragged faster toward the crack. The men around him desperately tried to get back to the L.R.V.s, but they were dragged toward it. Captain Onyx looked up, and had time to see the last of the sand and marines fall from the other side, leaving bare rock and a thin layer of sand near the edges, and only a few L.E.W. soldiers scrambling to cover from the Gilgathon’s shredder rounds.

Captain Onyx held his breathe, as he saw the crack get bigger, and found himself on the edge looking down into a black abyss. He felt the ground thin, and his body start descending in a free fall. He watched the sky, so blue and clear, as it slowly disappeared as he fell into the blackness. Then, he landed hard, but on some sort of padding. He felt the wind get knocked out of him, and he closed his eyes.


Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:03 am
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dude. that... was.. awsome

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A flea and fly in a flue, Were imprisoned so what could they do? Said the flea let us fly. Said the fly let us flee. So they flew through a flaw in the flue.


Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:58 pm
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Archangel Mikael wrote:
dude. that... was.. awsome


Why? I'm trying to produce some discussion. This isn't like a regular book or a movie, you can actually talk to the creator. Try to edit your post or something to add more discription to your post. Also, try to read the POSTING SUGGESTIONS at the beggining of my first post. I'm trying to make this more discussion/like rather then post, comment, post, shock and awe comment, post.

Thanks for reading, even though you're close to the only one your comments, however small, are enlightening and encouraging.


EDIT: Tomarrow:
-Chapter 5 will be posted (that is the next one, right?
-Chapter 2 commentary!


Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:20 pm
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Ok, here it comes, the next chapter! I'm feeling they've been comming a little fast, even though I want to hurry up and post them, I should slow down a little bit, allow the chapter(s) to sink in. Oh well.

I need to fix the last post, it's not chapter five it's chapter six that's next. Oh well... Anyway, may I re-state that standard rules apply and head my worries, the book is now in effect, and all the standard rules and warnings apply to the remainder of it. Please note, if you're mom still drives you to school, this might not be the book for you. Again, you need to take responsibility and head these warnings, otherwise we can't be held responsible(ish) for your surprise (or shock).

Even though it ain't that bad... please read posting suggestions at begining of first post before replying. Enjoy CHAPTER SIX!


Out of the Pan


“Hello? Can anyone read me?” yelled Dex’s voice over Ruben’s headset, “Is anyone there? Ruben? Leroy? Styx? Captain? Anyone, hello?”

Ruben got up, and rubbed his head. He had a splitting head ache and his lower back ached. He seemed to have landed on a pile of sand. He pressed the button on his com mic to shut Dex up, then took in a breath and closed his eyes.

“Yeah, this is Private Ruben Onyx,” he said.

“Oh, thank god. Ruben, are you ok? What the hell happened? You guys were there then you weren’t next thing I know BOOM you’re all off the map and I get white noise,” yelled Dex.

“I don’t know, I’m in some sort of… cavern. Under ground,” replied Ruben, opening his eyes and looking around.

“Oh, that explains it. I’m sending out one of our recon drones to take a look at the area. I’ll change frequencies to better keep in contact with you while you try to find survivors,” said Dex.

Survivors? Survivors!

Ruben stood up, groaning as his back and knees popped and cracked. He grabbed a flashlight strapped to his thigh and he turned it on and looked around. He saw tons of dead bodies, most of them covered in sand. He looked around; he seemed to have been inside a giant hallway of some sort. It had strange markings on them, and the ceiling was pretty big, too. Sand seemed to cover and fill the majority of the room.

He walked from body to body looking for survivors. He saw mixed bodies of L.E.W. soldiers and members of the alliance. He couldn’t keep back the tears; he’ll probably never see his father again. He didn’t know where he was, or with who.

“Hello? Is there anyone out there? Hello?” cried Ruben, as he searched the bodies.

His yells became more frequent as he kept searching bodies after bodies. Then that’s when he found Dudley. He recognized his face, and he quickly went over to him.

“Dudley?” he said, clearing the other bodies off him.

He checked his pulse, nothing. Ruben placed his head in his hands, and tears began to glaze his eyes. He looked into the blackness again, and shook his head slowly.

Then he heard it, a slight coughing from somewhere else in the cavern. Ruben spun around and saw a body rise from the pile of bodies. Ruben put his flashlight on it, and saw Leroy standing there, half dazed.

“Leroy!” yelled Ruben.

“Ruben? Is that you? Put out that light, you retard,” said Leroy, and he fell to his knees and placed his face in his hands.

Ruben ran over to him and picked him up.

“Leroy, we’ve fallen into a cavern of some sort. We’re lucky to still be alive. Everyone else is dead,” said Ruben.

Leroy removed his hands from his face and looked around. He grabbed his flashlight and shined it around the hallway. He shook his head and turned white.

“Oh, hell no! We’re going to die! We’re in the ground, Gilgathon’s are in the ground, we’re DEAD!” he yelled backing up against the wall, shaking.

Ruben tried to calm him down, but another groan was heard, then Clara’s voice said, “Shut up, you spaz. You’re not dead.”

Ruben shined his flashlight toward the source of the noise to see Clara rising from the bodies and checking her sniper rifle. He smiled and waved over to her.

“Dex, Leroy and Clara are alright,” said Ruben into his mic.

“Great, are they it?” asked Dex.

“I don’t know, I’ll keep searching,” said Ruben, and he looked around.

Ruben heard another moan, and he called for Leroy to help him. He started pulling bodies off a man, and he pulled him up.

“Thanks, dude, I thought I was dead for a minute,” said the man, and Ruben put his flashlight on him.

He was a L.E.W. soldier. He wore nice new blue and silver armor that shined better then Ruben’s red and rusty one, and he wore no helmet.

“He’s L.E.W.,” said Ruben, and Leroy and he pulled their guns on him; he stepped back with his hands up, wincing from the flashlights.

“I’m not Lou, don’t shoot. I’m Private Frank Dufraine,” yelled the man.

“No, genius, being L.E.W. means you’re a Linked Earth World soldier,” said Leroy.

“Linked Earth… oh great, you’re Hogs!” yelled the man, and he dropped his hands.

“Listen, we don’t want any trouble. Just keep your hands behind your head,” said Ruben, and he took the safety off his gun.

Ruben heard the sound of a round going into a chamber next to his head and the cold metal of a gun barrel press against his head. He closed his eyes, and knew either he’d die or he was now a hostage.

“I wouldn’t do that, boy, unless you want a four round burst of L.E.W.’s lead furry in your face!” yelled an older man behind Ruben.

Private Dufraine smiled and unstrapped his rifle from his back and aimed it at Leroy. Clara loaded a round into her sniper and aimed it at the other man. The other man was older and had darker skin, like Dudley’s, except his was natural. He wore a cap with a sergeant’s insignia on it. A half smoked cigar in his mouth.

There was an odd silence, when yet another sound of a round entering a chamber was heard and a man appeared, holding his gun to the sergeant’s head.

“Now, now, sergeant. Let’s not waste our bullets just yet, that would be foolish.” Captain Onyx’s voice echoed through the hallway. There was a slight pause, and the Captain Onyx said, “On three we all lower our weapons, ok? One… two… three.”

With that, everyone lowered their weapons, the Sergeant and Frank were reluctant at first but they did it. They both backed away from the rebels, grouping up with one another. Captain Onyx turned on the mini flashlight located on his gun barrel, and Ruben saw his face.

“Dad, you were dragged down here too?” Ruben asked.

“We all were, and it appears we’ve fallen into some sort of Gilgathon cavern,” Captain Onyx said, and he examined the corridor then added, “A well put together cavern.”

Leroy turned white and turned on the flashlight on his gun and frantically searched around.

Clara walked up and chuckled, saying, “If they were here they would’ve wasted no time killing us or releasing a hoard of Warglers on us.”

Leroy looked around more frantically. The sergeant started to chuckle a bit, and removed the cigar stub out of his mouth to spit, and he put it back in with a smile.

“This is what we’re fighting against? I knew it was bad but not this bad. I once took a pack of those Warglers out from medium range, by myself,” said the Sergeant.

“Impossible,” said Leroy.

“Improbable,” Dex chimed in.

“What the heck are you rebels doing here?” asked Frank.

“It doesn’t matter, we’re going to kick your ass until there’s no more ass to kick!” said the sergeant.

“Nobody’s kicking anyone’s ass. Got it?” said Captain Onyx, “If you haven’t noticed, we’re in a Gilgathon cavern with no known way out. Now if we’re going to survive, I think it’s a better idea we work
together rather than as enemies. Right?”

The Sergeant just glared at them, and Captain Onyx raised his eyebrow more. Then Frank started nodding. He looked at the Sergeant, who let out a sigh and closed his eyes.

“Never thought I’d live to see the day… fine, Hog, you win. We won’t kill you until we’re out of here,” said the Sergeant.

“Why do you insist on calling us Hogs?” asked Clara.

“It’s your Rebel Alliance, ain’t it? Hand Of God, that’s H, O, G, Hog,” said the Sergeant, “The same way you call us Lou, I suppose.”

Captain Onyx nodded, then took in a breath and he asked again, “So, a momentary cease fire between us, or do you want to start blasting away, completely out numbered, not knowing where you were, and possibly attract Gilgathons?”

The Sergeant smiled and replied, “That’s the way marines take it, isn’t it?” he looked at the private then turned back and held out his had, “Alright, a momentary cease fire, then.” The captain reached out and shook his hand, “Remember, it’s only because I know killing all of you would leave me alone in these tunnels, and I’ll need all the help I can get.”

The Captain smiled, and said, “Captain Jack Onyx.”

The Sergeant let go of his hand and back on his gun while saying, “Sergeant Henry McCoy.”

“McCoy? Isn’t that an Irish name?” asked Leroy.

“No, it certainly is not! It’s an ‘I’m-gonna-kick-yo’-ass’ name,” said the Sergeant.

“Oh, well if we’re introducing ourselves then I’m ‘the Incredible Leroy Terkins’, Corporal,” said Leroy, making a macho man pose.

“More like ‘Corporal Leroy Chickens’,” commented Clara.

“And that is the wanna-be man, Sergeant Clara Styx,” commented Leroy.

“Hey,” said Clara, and she pushed Leroy, who was taken by surprise and fell into more dead bodies.

He rose and said, “Correction, she’s a man.”

“How about I pop a round into your wanna-be head!” barked Clara, and she turned back to the others.

“Well, if we’re all introducing ourselves, I’m Private Frank Dufraine,” said Frank.

“We don’t need to get to know them, all that’ll do is help us mark their graves when we’re finished with them,” said Sergeant McCoy.

“Enough, I think that staying here isn’t a good idea, it won’t be long until those Gilgathons somewhere on the surface figure out we fell down here. Now search the dead and try to find more survivors. Dex?” said the Captain.

“Yeah, Captain?” answered Dex.

“I need to know where we are and how we get out of here, pronto. I don’t care what it takes.” Said the Captain, as he turned around and swept his flashlight over the piles of bodies lying around.

“Already on it, sir,” said Dex.

“Hey, how come your radio reads down here and ours don’t,” asked Frank.

“We’ve been under ground for a long time, we know how to communicate. Most of it is special receptors we have placed back at home base, it allows us to get better reception, anywhere,” answered Onyx.

“Psht, you think we’d have figured something like that out by now. Why haven’t they turned our full range radios yet?” said the Sergeant, as he went and looked for survivors.

“They probably haven’t figured out we’re down here yet,” said Ruben.

“How long’s it going to take?” asked Leroy.

“Not long for us, unknown for L.E.W.” said Dex.

The team split up, mostly the Sergeant and Private Frank were together, and Captain Onyx’s team was together. As they searched they found nothing, no survivors, no wounded, all dead. As they searched, they began to get more desperate for survivors. Eventually, Ruben found himself closer to Private Dufraine. As they neared, Dufraine looked up and caught Ruben’s attention.

“So what were you guys doin’ way out here any way?” he asked, quietly.

Ruben didn’t know why he had spoken so quietly, almost in a whisper. He looked around, and walked a bit closer to Dufraine.

“I’m not exactly sure, all we know is we were to attack and kill the L.E.W. covert ops team in this area,” answered Ruben in an equally quiet manner, the continued, “What were you guys doing?”

“One of our observation posts were attacked and destroyed, and when they sent a team to check it out they were equally disposed of. So we were sent in to figure out why, and then kill whoever did it,” answered Private Dufraine.

They were quiet for a bit, and then Dufraine said, “What do you think will happen to us down here? If we’re really in a Gilgathon cavern then odds are we won’t make it out alive, right?”

Ruben looked at him, and he honestly could not answer. He saw Dufraine like he saw his friend, Uri; as a human being. Ruben shook his head, and returned to searching the dead.

“All I know is if there is an easy way out, Dex’ll find it and my father will get us to it,” said Ruben.

“Your dad?” asked Dufraine.

Ruben hesitated, and then said, “I’m Private Ruben Onyx.”

“Private Frank Dufraine,” said Frank, then he added, “Wasn’t Onyx the name of your captain?”

“Yeah, he’s my dad,” said Ruben, then he returned to searching.

Ruben had found nothing, and he returned to find the group had somewhat regrouped. His father had gathered up a lot of weapons, from Hand of God and L.E.W. units alike. The Sergeant had laid about 20 L.E.W. soldiers he found in a row in a grave-like fashion. Leroy was scanning the cavern with his gun, still, as Clara compared the scope to her sniper rifle to a scope of one she had found on a L.E.W. sniper. Frank had also beaten Ruben back, and was sitting and staring at the pile of weapons Captain Onyx had made.

When Ruben came close everyone glanced at him, and when he shook his head, everyone looked away again. Ruben went and sat next to Clara, who seemed to quickly avert her eyes from an unknown location back to the scopes. Ruben heard his dad breathe in, hold it, then let it out in a huge sigh.

“Ok, now what?” asked Leroy.

“Well, we obviously can’t stay here. So I’ve gathered up some weapons, excluding the Desert Rat’s M8-7 Pump for obvious reasons, so get your ammo and as much of these as you can. So I was thinking we’ll head that way, and just try to get somewhere else. I don’t give it too long before the Gilgathon’s realize we’re down here and decide to visit us. SO get your ammo and get ready to-”

“Woh, hold a minute. Who died and left you in charge?” asked the Sergeant, now joining the parcel circle the group was making.

“Uh, I would guess almost everybody. Besides, Sergeant, I am the ranking officer,” commented Onyx.

“Oh, really now?” said the Sergeant, now getting irritated, “Well if my memory serves me, you’re still just another damn Hog going against a seasoned L.E.W. Marine!”

Things got tense again, and Clara put her hand on her pistol at her side, which seemed to have been replaced with a L.E.W. Mark VI. Leroy averted his gaze from his search for Warglers and focused his aim more toward the group. Frank seemed to have sit straighter, both hands on his rifle.

“Sergeant, we don’t have much choice, here. None of us knows any more then you, and, if you haven’t noticed, we’re in a giant hallway with no doors. There’s only two ways you can go. I just picked one,” said Captain Onyx, and he, too, seemed to move his hand toward his rifle as he continued saying, “Now I never said I was in charge. Remember, we’re still under a cease fire. If you want to head off in that direction, go ahead. Take what you need from the pile and I wish you luck, but me and my team are heading off in this direction. Ok?”

The Sergeant looked around, and his face scowled. He looked one way, and then the other. He swore beneath his breath and looked at the Captain again.

“No, you won’t last five minutes out there against the Gilgathons. I’ll head your way, but I swear… you give me an order and I’ll shoot you so fast, oh boy!” said the Sergeant, and he went to the pile and drew out some shells for his 9 Gauge.

After that everyone seemed to ease a little, and Captain Onyx let out a breath and rolled his eyes. Ruben went over and picked up some Assault Rifle ammo, and he saw that Dudley’s M-48 Chain Gun had been placed in the pile, and he grabbed it and its ammo. He strapped it to his back, knowing he wouldn’t use it as a real weapon in combat, more like a just-in-case weapon, so it was firmly strapped on. He felt its weight weigh down on him, but his slightly super natural strength he seemed to have helped make it as though he had on another backpack. He turned to see that his dad had done the same with Dudley’s 12 Gauge Shotgun, along with an extra Assault Rifle to match his Battle Rifle.

Leroy had picked up a most peculiar L.E.W. automatic pistol that the alliance had not scene in combat yet.

“What’s this?” commented Leroy, and he looked around and noticed that there were even more scattered in the pile. The sergeant gave a disgusted look and picked up the weapon, and traded it for his Mark VI he had holstered.

“This is the new M1-7 Sub Machine Gun, supposed to replace light weapons, like pistols and light rifles,” said the sergeant, “but nothing can replace my old magnum.”

The sergeant pulled out an old pistol from a holster by his lower back. It reminded Ruben of the old western .45 caliber, from old America. It had the six bullet chamber, and the bullets were newer, probably custom made, and shined in the chambers. The sergeant returned the ancient gun into its holster and the Sergeant turned to watching the walls of the cavern.

“Ok, now what we need to do is head that way. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find our way out,” said Captain Onyx.

“Does anyone have any idea on a way out?” asked Frank.

“Dex?” asked Captain Onyx.

“Hold on, I could help your situation. You still got your helmet?” asked Dex.

“No, but Leroy and Clara seemed to have located theirs,” said Captain Onyx, nodding toward Clara and Leroy.

“Ok, how’s your system’s?” asked Dex.

“I’m good,” answered Clara.

“My optics are fried, probably sand damage. I got radio, slight night vision… dang, I got no helmet cam,” Answered Leroy.

“Not a problem, once I fix the probe I won’t need your cam. Ok, I’m updating your compass and a slight new map from the area. I’ll try to keep you posted, Styx; you’re lucky to have any electronics working at all.”

“What happened?” asked Ruben.

“When you went under, the probe was heading your way and some sort of pillar of light was seen due east of your somewhat position,” answered Dex, “Screwed up the probe a bit, and seemed to have caused those L.E.W. transports some trouble. It’s gone now, looking over the records I think that it’s coming out of a small crack, heading straight up into the sky, possibly space.”

Everyone looked around, no one said anything. Franked shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Gilgathon originated?” asked Sergeant McCoy.

“Unknown,” answered Dex.

They were quiet a bit, then the Captain Nodded.

“Well, that’s not our problem; our job is now to get ourselves out of here. Fix the probe and find us a way out. For the mean time, though, it may be a good idea we head easterly,” said the Captain, nodding to Clara.

She pointed down the hall where they were planning to go. The Captain nodded and began walking in that direction.

“Since most of us have no night vision, keep your gun’s flashlight on for now,” said the Captain, and all who had flashlights turned them on, holstering their hand ones.

Clara had seemed to have decided to go with the L.E.W. sniper scope, which she could turn on a night vision option, and she followed Captain Onyx and Leroy down into the passage. Ruben hurried
up, and found himself last behind Sergeant McCoy and Frank.

Ruben watched their back tightly. As far as his first mission was going, he would have preferred The Wall.

With that, they left the dead bodies and sand behind, and stepped onto, what seemed to be, a stone floor, that matched the walls. The sand thinned and they reached a corner, at what seemed to be the end of the hallway. The sand had taken up a lot of space in the cavern. The captain looked to the left and right, thinking of which of the splits to go. He nodded to the left and headed down the passage, into the unknown.


Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:11 am
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Ok, I'm sorry... but here we go. It's time for another commentary. This is Chapter 2 commentary. As time goes on, it's gonna be harder for commentaries, so let's try and see if we can't make the next commentary for 3&4.

Cleansing Warswick: Chapter 2 Commentary

Ok, here we go. I started off showing officially the change in character. I decided not to carry over the constant logging that Captain Onyx had done in the Prologue, so I added that into the second chapter.

Ok, so basically we start seeing some of the inner workings of the Hand of God. Ok, now we get to see the Officials/Council/Higher... Hand of God... Leaders. Ok, I wanted to show this not as a random rebel force, but a people troubled. This might be a goos time to give you the behind the scenes on the hand of God. Here's some notes right out of my own personal info page!

Quote:
The Rebel Alliance known only as the “Hand of God” was started when the taxes on the planet Xzar got incredibly outrageous. The rebellion was never considered big so they hung around for a while. When the entire rebel force decided to go out and explore for a planet to consider their own, instead of hiding in secret on planets throughout L.E.W. space, they stumbled upon Warswick. When they colonized it, it became apparent that the L.E.W. had already been there, and was in the smallest stages of colonization. Well as a small war started up, the L.E.W. unleashed a powerful force on the planet, and the Gilgathons were thrown into the mix. Now they fight for their lives as they are against two far superior forces.


Ok, so basically you see that the council is a cracker-jack box of characters that basically run the whole show. They talk of the friction between Jack's "Son" and the rest of the alliance. Jack asks for a chance, and the council gives him one. A near pointless mission, undermanned, to attack a LEW special ops force out in an area called the "Dune Sea". Though Jack hates the idea, he excepts anyway. The council trys to soften it up.

Anyway... yeah. This chapter doesn't have much. I need to find a way to make sure chapter 3-4 as alot more info. In fact, they will have so much maybe I should split them up. Hmm...

Now that you know more, go back and reread the first two chapters and tell me how you feel? Maybe I should start a Character Bio with these. It's a good idea, maybe I should start it. Check back to see updated Character Bios in the commentaries. I won't do the prologue. Only things in this topic.

EDIT: Character Bio(s)

General Raja Swahili: Though his name suggests otherwise, his family chain actually goes back to ancient America. He, though not the one who originally founded the Hand of God, now runs the military and diplomatic parts of the organization.

Other Character Bios would be pointless. Learn about the Characters at your own pace. Keep in touch for a big Commentary on Chapter Three!


Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:32 pm
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Chapter 7
Into the Fire



The cavern was amazing. Now leaving the sand filled hallway with a cracked ceiling behind, the cavern seemed to look more like an actual underground structure, and they were in the hallways. The hallway was wide, wide enough for one car to fit smoothly, 1 tank to fit just enough and two cars to be snug. The height was astounding, an easy three stories. Though large, it was plain and had no structure or objects in it.

Ruben and the group traveled for a bit before they found the first chamber; it was relatively large and held three large table-like structures. It held something that looked like a cabinet with no doors, and seemed to have been built without one. It had shelves in it, but was small to hold anything substantial. There was evidence of objects being pulled off the walls, centuries old, that would have suggests some other box-like objects around the room.

“What is it?” asked Ruben.

“A room, stupid,” said the sergeant.

“Who’s?” said Frank.

The Captain glanced around, and then he said, “Sergeant, anything L.E.W.?”

“Not we know of, are your boys down here?” asked the sergeant.

The Captain shook his head, then turned to Clara saying, “record it, I’ll take pictures.”

“Yes, please do,” said Dex.

After they recorded it, they moved on down the hallway. After a while they saw similar rooms, some varying with cylindrical tubes resembling ER intensive care tubes. One held tubes that could have past for padded chairs or beds for sleeping.

“We’re recording, but it looks like someone was planning to be down here a while,” said Leroy.

“According to the pictures, those look like they could be some sort of cryo sleeping chamber,” said Dex.

They continued down the hallways, seeing similar rooms like these and recording everything they found.

Ruben was amazed by it all, as they continued on their way toward an unknown destination.

“It’s a little classy and clean for Gilgathons, you think?” said the Sergeant.

“May not be Gilgathons,” said Clara.

“Yeah, according to L.E.W. scans, Gilgathons really don’t have any base of operations, or structures we know of. They mainly use caverns and captured structures, like Temple Alpha, AKA: Ground Zero, where the Gilgathons first appeared,” rambled Dex and the others seemed to think about what he said.

“We’re not told much about the emergence and such,” mentioned Frank.

“I don’t need to be told, I was in the first response team to try and help the research crew, I know what happened,” boasted the sergeant.

“Dex, I want anything the L.E.W. has about the temple and the Gilgathons. Use whatever’s necessary, I don’t care if I have clearance,” said the Captain.

“Roger,” replied Dex.

“You won’t crack our codes, L.E.W.’s are best in the world,” said the sergeant.

“You’d be surprised,” commented Captain Onyx, and they continued their journey.

As they continued, it was eerily silent. Ruben kept looking for things to comment about, but everything seemed to stupid or already too obvious. The silence seemed to have also gotten on Leroy’s nerves; he got bored with looking for Gilgathons. Finally he moved next to the sergeant, and he put on a troublesome face.

“You seemed to have done a lot with the Gilgathons, Sergeant,” he said.

The sergeant seemed taken aback, and he gave Leroy a confused look.

“Seemed to? Son, I am the exact example of experience with Gilgathons. I’ll tell you; those ugly bastards have tried to get me time and time again. I would like nothing better then to find a chance to squash them like the bugs they are,” said the sergeant.

“Hmm, seems like you got skill against mindless beasts, Sergeant,” said Leroy.

He looked toward Ruben and smiled, Ruben shook his head at him. The Sergeant had turned his look of confusion into an angry face and side glanced at Leroy.

“There we are with that word again. I do have your ‘skill’, boy, and not just against mindless beasts. I do a good amount against rebels, too.”

Leroy seemed to know this would come up, and he made a sarcastic burst of air leave his mouth and smiled at the sergeant.

“Yeah, sure, and-”

“What are you saying,” said the sergeant, stopping and looking into Leroy’s eyes, “Oh, I know your raggedy ass bunch of misfits. I’ve been on the defensive end of many of your raids, and I’ll have you know you guys are a sorry excuse for soldiers.”

At this, Leroy made a move to raise his rifle but Sergeant McCoy was too fast for him and already had his raised. The group had stopped with them, and another uneasy standoff endured. Captain Onyx walked up to the two and lowered their weapons.

“Grow up and calm down you two. This is senseless fighting. We need to stick together for now,” said Captain Onyx.

The two lowered their weapons slowly, glaring at one another. Captain Onyx gave an angry glance toward Leroy, who spotted it and through up his hands.

“What? He started it.”

“And was about to finish it,” through in the sergeant.

“Guys, shut up and come look at this,” said Clara, who had wandered a bit forward toward another chamber.

Ruben was the first to move toward her, the others followed. As he entered the room, he saw a duplicate of the other rooms they had decided to study. What immediately caught his eyes was some sort of computer terminal in the corner, that appeared damaged and clawed at. Everyone seemed to have noticed it, too.

“Dex?” said Clara.

“Find anything new?” rang Dex’s voice through the radio.

“Yeah, Dex, some sort of computer terminal. Think you can hack it?” said Captain Onyx.

“Worth a shot, does it have a import slot or power button?” asked Dex.

“Let’s see…”

Captain Onyx walked over to it and found an import slot on the side. He grabbed a green micro chip out of a pouch on his belt and placed it inside. The team heard typing through the com, indicating Dex’s success.

“Ok, let me see… what the heck?”

“Dex?” said Captain Onyx.

“There’s…. there’s so much information… I can’t download it fast enough. I-I can’t believe it… oh my goodness it’s not even in any known language or code, I’m not even sure… good god the technology!” said Dex.

“Hey, stay with us Dex, what’s happening? Is it human?” asked Captain Onyx.

“God, I hope not. This is so highly advanced; I don’t think my computer can handle it. I’m trying to use everything I got; processing power… memory cores… hard drives… it’s ripping through them at an alarming rate. Half this stuff hasn’t been invented yet. If the L.E.W. had this kind of technology we’d be done for and cancer would be cured,” said Dex.

“So what we dealing with, Gilgathon technology?” said Clara.

“No, Sergeant Styx, we’ve seen how Gilgathons work. This isn’t them. Hmm… these have similar markings to those reported at Temple Alpha… I’ll start decrypting whatever translations they have. Maybe I’ll find something out.”

“Ok, should we-” but Captain Onyx’s words were cut short from a noise not too far away.

It seemed to be some sort of screech followed by noises of clanking and clattering, and some muffled grunts. It was heard reverberating off the walls, and everyone pointed their guns toward the door of the room. The sergeant removed his safety on his gun while Leroy backed up to the wall, turning white. Captain Onyx swore under his breath and turned to the consol.

“Warglers,” mumbled Frank.

“Warglers, yes, but Warglers don’t carry equipment. They must have some Drone allies,” said the Sergeant.

“Dex,” said Captain Onyx, “Things just got complicated.”

“Ok, ok, no worries. Thanks to my half mind on the probe I’ve seemed to have located a way out, I got good news and some bad news.”

“Hit me.”

“The good news is, it’s relatively wide and still in the Dune Sea. The bad news is that it’s about a three mile hike north east from your position… and some Gilgathons are guarding it.”

“How many?” said Clara.

“Looks like… a pack; Drones… and a Gilgathor,” said Dex.

“Oh, it just keeps getting better,” said Captain Onyx.

“You tell that voice in your head I hate bad news,” said Sergeant McCoy.

“How crowded you think it is down here?” said Ruben, referring to the amount of Gilgathons in the cavern.

“Can’t say, I’m surprised you haven’t run into anything yet,” said Dex, then he gasped and said, “I’m 91% full and I think I’ve stumbled upon a Alphabet.”

“We’re about to die and you’re going on about your ABCs?” said Leroy, still turning pale and staring wide-eyed at the door.

“No, it’s kind of like a word processor on a computer, the way it can pick out spelling mistakes and grammical errors is it has a giant data base of words and Alphabet, it also has a small translator. If I can decipher it, I can learn this language over night!”

“Time to go!” said the sergeant, flexing his jaw muscle and tightening his things.

“Leave the chip in, the more I can decipher the better,” said Dex, and Captain Onyx nodded.

“Ok, we’re booking it.” Captain Onyx announced and immediately Sergeant McCoy, Frank, and Clara headed for the door.

Ruben raised his gun and followed, and saw the sergeant’s gun sweep the way they had came as he moved across the hall then toward the way they were going. The sergeant stopped dead and kneeled. Ruben cleared the room’s doorway and looked toward where he was pointing.

Ruben barely spotted them, his flashlight landed on them and his blood ran cold. It was a Gilgathon Drone. It was tall, with dark green scaly skin. It had a face that resembled a short snout, and all its teeth were sharp and pointed. It’s eyes seemed human like, besides their pupils were slits and instead of white they had an eerie lime color. It’s toga like top and armored pants were upgraded since when Ruben had seen them so many years ago. Over the toga top was an armored chest plate, and the armored pants were now sectioned and more armored and, surprisingly, more flexible. Its rifle, known as a “Shredder” through the human forces, was loosened on its rough leather strap, and hung askew at its side. It had the closest thing to a confused look on its face.

It had two others beside him, both equally open. That’s when Clara took her shot, and pulled the trigger. Her sniper let out a BANG and a round left the barrel and shot toward one of the Drones, hitting it in the forehead. The force of the bullet caused the Drone to jerk backward, and he fell to the ground. The other two barely had time to react when the sergeant pulled his trigger and send bullets their way.

“DRONES!” yelled Frank, and that seemed to pull Ruben back into the real world.

Ruben took aim and fired at them. One of the Gilgathons jerked and shuddered, then fell to the ground. The last had time to raise its gun before it fell to the ground, too. It was quiet for a bit, and then a scream was heard.

“They know we’re here,” said the sergeant.

“Come on, this way,” said Captain Onyx, and he ran down the hallway toward were the fallen Gilgathons were.

The others followed him, stepping or jumping over the fallen bodies, which were oozing green, slim like blood. Ruben’s heart seemed to be beating through his chest, and he looked around the hallway, there seemed to be nothing.

That’s when he saw it. Movement toward the ceiling, at first it was nothing then he noticed it for sure. It was a creature, seemed smaller then a Drone. Ruben made a attempt to speak, but only seemed to stutter. Frank turned his head and saw as one of them jumped off the ceiling and flew toward them.

“Look out!” he yelled and he pushed Clara out of its way and dove to the ground.

The creature barely missed them and landed beside the sergeant, who pulled a Bowie Combat Knife out of a sheath near his thigh and stabbed it in its face.

The creature fell to the ground and Ruben got a good look at it. It had a lighter green skin than the Drones, but it was slimy and smooth rather then scaly. It had no apparent eyes, though the fact it could see was relevant. It was smaller then the Drones, and stood slouched. It had no equipment or clothing but three long claws on its two hands.

Ruben didn’t have much time to react before three more of them dropped from the ceiling a few meters behind him and let out a blood churning screech.

“Warglers,” said Clara and she popped a round into one of them.

Captain Onyx raised his gun and sprayed the other two with bullets, watching the Warglers drop to the ground. With that, the team took off down the hallway again. More Warglers were spotted through the passages. Ruben decided to copy Frank, Sergeant McCoy, and Leroy by firing at the areas they were spotted in while running.

They turned a corner, and there was a bunch of Drones and Warglers, ready for them. There was a roar from one of them and a series of load BANGS shredded the air. Ruben didn’t know what it was, but everything seemed to slow down. He reacted faster then he had ever done before. He went to leap to the side, and noticed that Leroy seemed to have not even have noticed the Drones and still fired at some Warglers to their back. Ruben, without thinking, grabbed him and dragged him to the side with him as bullets whizzed past Leroy’s and his heads. He felt the hard ground press against his side and he closed his eye for a second.

When he opened his eyes he saw that he had stopped, he quickly raised his gun and shot at the Drones, seeing a lot of the Warglers shudder from his bullets and many Drones falling at some other combined fire.

That’s when he risked a look to his left at the rest of the team. Leroy hadn’t yet recovered from the dive, and he seemed a little dazed at the sudden extreme noise and jerk to the ground but otherwise uninjured. Captain Onyx had also seen the Drones ahead of time and grabbed Clara to the ground, too, and he and Clara were dealing with the Drones and Warglers. Sergeant McCoy had taken cover around the corner and finished off what Warglers still seemed to be a problem to their back, and he had pushed Frank to the other side when the Drones opened up and Frank had recovered from it and now looked for something to shoot while checking his gun for damage.

Ruben then turned back and started up shooting again, he saw the majority of the Drones and Warglers had been killed. He fired a few more shot and heard the CHINK of an empty clip. He ejected the cylindrical clip and grabbed an extra from his pack; he rolled it in and clicked a round into the chamber. The bodies began to stack up; Ruben didn’t notice that as they killed Drones and Warglers they only seemed to be replaced by another.

“Here they come from behind!” exclaimed the sergeant as he turned his attention to the two packs of Drones making their way down the hallway they had come from.

“Here, too,” said Frank, who had also needed to fire shots down the other hallway to the team’s back.

“Move up!” yelled Captain Onyx, “It’s the only way we’ll have a chance.”

With that, Ruben returned his attention to the Drones in front of him and he let a few more bullets fly. Then he felt a hand grab his shoulder and hoist him up. It was Leroy, who was trying to get Ruben to move. Ruben sprinted down the corridor, firing his gun into the darkness in front of him. He saw the end of the hallway he was running down, and he saw the oncoming packs of Drones running toward him.

He slowed down, for he had run passed his father and the others. When they caught up, Captain Onyx dived into a pile of dead Gilgathon bodies, and he picked up a dead Wargler and stacked it on the others, making a crude bunker. Ruben did the same, stacking bodies as Leroy covered to make a bunker on the oncoming onslaught.

The air around him reeked of rotten flesh and another unknown stench that Ruben decided must have been the smell of Gilgathons. He took a short glance backwards, seeing Frank and Sergeant McCoy stacking bodies as a blast a few meters away from them subsided; it was probably from a thrown grenade.

After a bit Ruben had no choice but to turn his attention on the ever coming onslaught of Gilgathons that rushed at them, firing their guns. Shredder rounds hit the dead bodies in front of Ruben, his heart rate was almost frightening him. His mind rushed through thoughts of death and of the Hand of God and Linked Earth Worlds war, then to the people around him. He tried to stay calm, keeping his thoughts and focus on the next Drone to fall.

“There’s too many of them!” yelled Frank.

“There’s just enough of them to make this a challenge for me!” yelled the sergeant, “Come and get some cold, hard, marine fashioned led you ugly bastards!”

“Oh my god, we’re going to die, we’re dead!” yelled Leroy over and over again, as he send bullets into Gilgathons in every direction, almost never releasing the trigger.

Then, Ruben didn’t know how, but he spotted it. It was a certain Drone, like the others he had a shredder and crude armor. His shredder, though, was strung to his side; instead he wielded a giant double edged sword, resembling demonic versions of barbarian’s swords. The Drone also wore a crude helmet, that covered its head and around it’s eyes with a thin sheet of an unknown metal. Its armor was a little thicker and elaborates, and on its left shoulder seemed to be a skull of an unknown creature.

It seemed that their eyes met, and Ruben seemed to not hear the sounds of battle around him, only this creature. Then Ruben’s heart skipped two beats as the creature raised one of its claws and extended only on finger, and pointed at Ruben. It then let out a blood-churning roar greater then that of any drone Ruben had seen yet and started a murderous charge toward where Ruben hid behind bodies.

Ruben didn’t know what came over him; his sense of fatigue left him. He seemed to be angered, but his sense seemed to leave him. He shot a few more shots at Drones around the one charging him, and they fell. He then realized that the one wielding the sword was charging at an alarming rate, and actually was a bit bigger then the other drones in means of actual body muscle. Ruben tried shooting at him, but all hit shots seemed to be absorbed by his skin, and it did not slow the drone down. Ruben noticed his father and even Clara shooting at it, too, but even the powerful sniper rounds could not make the beast shutter, and none of them hit its skull.

Ruben then experienced the feeling that everything slowed down. He thought for a second, as he heard his assault rifle click from running out of bullets. Ruben watched the creature, and then found it. It was a small space at the creature’s neck, it was unarmored and opened. Ruben thought that if he could stab it in the neck, then it would die. He felt himself drop his gun and grab his combat bowie knife. Before he could think, he felt himself jump over the bunker of bodies and run toward the creature. Somewhere in the distance he heard a yell of protest but he ran at his full speed, clutching the knife, starring at the drone’s throat.

Ruben didn’t know what he was thinking, but he did know that he had to do this, or that thing could kill them all. They were closing in fast, and Ruben prepared to strike the creature’s throat. He took in a breath, and…


Sun Aug 24, 2008 10:38 am
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Ok, Ok, now it's that time again, on the official last day of summer vacation, to give some back-to-school hope to all you school goers. Today, that goody is the Sugar filled Chapter Three Commentary! Woopie.

Cleansing Warswick: Chapter Three COMMENTARY!

Ok, let's start with Ruben. Ruben is patrolling the only part of the Fortress that's exposed to the surface, The Wall. It describes, again, the badland terrain that is Warswick. You meet another character, Arnold, that may become important down the road, and one that most certantly will be reconized in time to come is Sergeant Malcolm. No character Bios on these two until the next book, I'm afraid, but you can easily tell their attitude in the reading and chapters to come.

Ok, now onto the meeting. Many, many main characters are introduced here. Instead of explaining them all then introducing Character Bios down the post, I'll do Bio crazy time right now!

Sergeant Clara Styx: One of the original soldiers in Captain Onyx’s team, there’s no better sniper then her. Though she took the tomboy approach to the war, no one complains when she gives them cover. Her hit ratio is an overall 100%, giving her high respect among the alliance. Though she, too, had concern with taking in Ruben she enjoys his company and was one of his few friends in his childhood. She would die for anything Captain Onyx believes in, and that makes her a very loyal soldier.

Corporal Leroy Terkins: The exact epiphany of an all talk kind of guy. He is, too, one of the original members of Captain Onyx’s team, which holds great amazement among people who know him. He’s a fierce fighter and takes great enthusiasm against fighting the L.E.W., but the Gilgathons are a different story. He’s deathly afraid of them and avoids engaging them with all his power. Despite that, he is surprisingly loyal, even though he complains a lot. His background is little known, he mainly just that he was native to the planet Xzar and joined the alliance when it started becoming organized.

Private Dudley O’Hara: One of the few heavy weapons soldiers in the alliance, he is a true contribute to Captain Onyx’s team. He seems not afraid of anything, and he is loyal to the Hand of God. He left his family, all L.E.W. citizens, when he was young. He left just before his family was getting certified and he joined the alliance knowing little about what it had to offer. At first, he was in the group who just used the name Hand of God as a way of blaming their crime on an organization, but when he heard there was a chance to use some real weapons and a place were he was wanted, he fled the city life to join the alliance. Doing hard time in L.E.W. controlled civilian prisons seems to be enough to fuel his rage in battle.

Corporal Dexter Kings: One of the few radio and computer personnel in the Hand of God. He has never seen any actual action in his life besides “basic” but he can hack into any computer by anyone. He, like most other Hand of God members, joined by luck. He was a delinquent in his younger youth, by hacking into banks and playing havoc on governmental elections. He used the Hand of God name to give his actions, and the actions of his street gang comrades, some help passing the blame. When his friends were busted and thrown in jail for being Hand of God members, he found himself alone and needy. Afraid of being found a prosecuted, he stole another large sum of cash and headed off. When he heard the call for all Hand of God members to group up, he took his chance and prayed for the best. He has then been a large help in both financial and informational aid to the alliance, and considers himself at home here.

Lieutenant Miranda Lowles: A goddess among soldiers, she’s often talked about and dreamt about in the alliance. Even though being a tough soldier and fearless leader has kept her busy, she made sure she had time to keep up her looks, and often uses them to get what she wants. All aside, she is respected among the older, and more mature, alliance members and has proved herself in battle time and time again.

OK, so the main reason for this chapter is for you to meet the team and learn the characters. But, you also get an outline for Ruben's mission yet to come and the teams reaction to it. Now, some things you might want to know about the Hand of God, things I will get into at later Commentaries.

-Desert Rats: are the daredevil drivers of Light Recon Vehicles.

-PIT: Are the Ipods, cell phones, personal info devices of the FUTURE!

-Hand of God: Rebel Alliance that doesn't really want to fight.

Ok, that'll do for our meaty filled info. Now, Chapter Four's commentary will even put this one to shame. With Elvidions, more Hand of God info, and more character Bios, this will possibly be the meatiest Commentary until the second book. Wow... Even chapter five's can't beat it! I may beed to wait to do the Gilgathon "chapter" Until later. Ha, ha, ha.


Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:38 am
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Ok, replies have dropped to a degrading amount and I feel I'm posting to nobody and my work is just "Here". I hope it doesn't slump like this often. Anyway, I'd like to continue with this with Chapter 8. Ok, let's do it.

Chapter 8
Test of Faith



CLICK went the clip of high explosive rounds into a Twilight Sword. Rebuz nodded, appreciating his choice. He reached over his head and hooked the gun to the back of his Grough Nextulux, a Heavy Combat Armor of the Zul’ Nugul. It works on a robotic like computing, as many sensors that allow the user/wearer to control the suit as if it was their own body. It made them look bulkier, and made them faster, stronger, and more durable to harm. Although very useful and necessary in combat, it diminishes the Zul’ Nugul’s natural ability of outstanding acrobatics.

Rebuz looked around him, again. He stood in a Rapid Unit Deployment Bay, or Rudeb. There was a giant teleporter in the center of the room, slightly raised from the floor and had a slightly lighter grey then the rest of the room. Besides the grey of the walls, floor and ceiling, there were lights that cast a green tint to everything. There were a good amount of computers lining the wall, and crates of supplies, too. There were racks of Twilight Swords and Plasma Blade hilts. There were an unusual amount of other Zul’ Nugul here, most of them in lines and others, like Rebuz, were doing random things.

They all stood ready, each one ready to fight and die in faith. Rebuz had not, yet, gotten used to the fact that he was, now, considered over them. It was only yesterday he had been one of them, yet they still all had the same passion that he had.

That’s when he walked in. Wearing heavy combat armor, he did not bear the insignia of a Coinshack, instead that of a Tork. He had no weapons on him, only the armor. He paced up and down the lines of the Zul’ Nugul, and then stopped at the end for all to hear.

“Since we broke from our wombs we took an oath of allegiance to our counsel and to our lord and were taught of his mercy, glory, and the salvation he offered us,” he said, in a booming voice.

Then, most of the Zul’ Nugul in the area said together in a booming manner, “We shall obey and serve, our lord, our creator.”

Then he started up again, saying, “Our lord left us because of our sins, but he did not forsake us. He went and created a new race, supposable in his own image.”

And then the Zul’ Nugul started up again, as the lone Zul’ Nugul made his way down the lines for a third time, “And we set off in search for the new race, in hopes to be forgiven and wash away our sins, may our father and lord guide us.”

“And what did we find? The beasts of ancient times,” said the lone Zul’ Nugul, “Our ancestors gave their blood and lives to destroy and freeze the beasts.”

“They created our armies, and insured our future.”

“But then we found the humans, and now they have released the beasts. Now we are called to arms, to prepare for the time when we must act to keep them from spreading like ancient times.”

“We shall grind them into dust. No mercy, no doubts, no selfishness.”

The lone Zul’ Nugul continued, getting closer to Rebuz.

“When the humans can no longer contain the outbreak, and before the Gilgamites can evolve too greatly, we will be called to service like our ancestors, and gain honor and dignity as we cleanse this planet of the beasts.”

“And continue our journey to forgiveness and salvation.”

As the other Zul’ Nugul finished, the lone Zul’ Nugul spotted Rebuz and frowned a little, and walked over to where he stood.

“A mission such as this is non-deserved for one such as you, Rebuz,” he said, starring into Rebuz’s eyes.

“Then you take it, Zeon, if you think you are more worthy,” replied Rebuz.

Zeon nodded slightly, “you know more then I that this is a dangerous mission, and I would not wish to disobey the Protice’s commands. The order was for you and your team to go”

Zeon looked around a bit, then smirked and said, “Where is your team, Rebuz?”

“They will come,” said Rebuz.

“Well, I hope they show… for your sake. I’m surprised anyone would follow you.”

“I hold the rank of Tork, as you,” said Rebuz, “and they will do their job as will I.”

Zeon hummed in a sarcastic agreement and a ring was heard. Zeon and Rebuz turned their head to the door in the “corner” of the room, when it opened a group of Grunites waddled in and one wearing the closest thing to dress robes Grunites could wear, the others regular technician and engineer suits. The Grunite in dress robes got on a pedestal and cleared his throat, speaking into a speaker.

“Grunites, prepare to warm up the Rudeb. Can Tork Rebuz take the platform, Tee minus three minutes.” He spoke, his voice reaching the corners of the bay.

Rebuz walked toward the platform, Zeon following him. He reached it and stepped onto it, and turned back to Zeon.

“This is where we part, Zeon. I hope to see you when this is all done,” said Rebuz.

“If you make it, Tork, than both of us know it would be a miracle,” said Zeon.

Rebuz was going to reply, when two other Zul’ Nugul stood upon the platform, all suited up as he was. One held a large, cylindrical object with what looked like mandibles at one end beside his Twilight Sword. Another had a Plasma Blade hilt holstered at his side. Their visors were like the others, not yet up, so Rebuz could still see their faces. One was like his, not too aged and hadn’t yet seen heavy battle. Another had aged a bit, and had battle scars across his head. They both nodded toward Rebuz, and Rebuz composed a smile.

“Elrond, Akeel, thank you for honoring my request and joining me,” said Rebuz.

“We could not deny. It is a very sacred mission you’ve been given,” said Akeel, the un-aged one.

“It is us who are honored,” said Elrond, the older one.

Then another Zul’ Nugul managed to make his way to the platform as the Grunite in dress robes said, “Tee minus 2 minutes.”

“Ah, Biozard, my thanks,” said Rebuz.

Biozard was a young Elvidion Zul’ Nugul by Elvidion standards. His black color had not yet set in, and his skin seemed more of a dark grey. His skin was also perfectly untouched, and his suit brand new. He nodded and smiled.

“Glad to be here, Rebuz. I am honored that you had chosen me out of millions of more compatible Zul’ Nugul. I am ready to obliterate all who stand in our way,” said Biozard, in a slightly higher voice then the rest.

Rebuz nodded as he heard Zeon snicker a bit.

“What a team you have selected, Tork. You’ll need all the luck you can get,” he said.

“You know as well as I, there is no luck.”

“No, but you seem not to take this seriously, Rebuz. This will be the greatest test of faith ever thrust upon you,” said Zeon, lowering his voice a little.

“My faith is strong,” replied Rebuz.

“Yes, and may it guide you well,” said Zeon, as he turned to walk away.

“Are you not going to wish us luck?” asked Rebuz in a playful fashion.

Zeon scoffed before replying, “You know as well as I that there is no luck.”

With that, the Gilgamite’s voice rang over the speaker again saying, “Tee minus thirty seconds. Heat platform, neutralize all particles.”

The platform began to hum, and a light engulfed the Zul’ Nugul standing on it. Rebuz gave a slight motion of the hand to communicate with the others then he slipped his visor over his head, closing his suit air tight. The others did the same. Static filled the suit, before all sense of gravity and direction were lost and an eerie green light filled the space around them.

“Tork,” rang Zeon’s voice from the crowd.

Rebuz turned to see him standing not too far away. He shook his head and stepped forward.

“Good luck,” he said, then turned and yelled, “You’ll need it!”

Rebuz smiled as the green light brightened and he felt himself start to fall slightly, then nothing.

“All systems go, dropping them in 2…1… Zul’ Nugul dispatched-”



Rebuz opened his eyes; he was in a dark room, a hole in the ceiling above. Tiny amounts of light filtered in, but not enough to illuminate the darkness around him. Rebuz heard a humming that lasted only a second and his visor seemed to light up from the inside. Then the visor’s optics booted up and the room was illuminated as if it was one of the ship’s decks. Rebuz let out the breath he had been holding in. They were in.

He was in an ancient receiving room. Seemed like it still worked well, he was safely teleported. The walls and floors looked aged; the ceiling was cracked and opened in places. It was empty, as the Elvidions had left it. There seemed to be no sign of Gilgamites, yet.

Rebuz located his team. Akeel and Biozard already had drawn their guns and wandered toward the door. Elrond looked around and waited for Rebuz to make a move. Rebuz nodded and pressed a small button and a speaker inside the helmet turned on.

“Alright, we’re lucky we didn’t have to hit the ground running. Keep your eyes open and stay close,” said Rebuz, and three orange dots lit up on his visor, indicating the others had heard and understood.

Rebuz and Elrond grabbed their Twilight Swords and walked toward the door where the other two were. Rebuz peered out into the hallway. He saw two drones making their way over to the door, it seemed like their drop attracted some attention. Rebuz nodded and pulled back into the room.

“We got company, two, dispatch silently,” said Rebuz and the other three seemed to disappear into what darkness there was.

When the two drones entered the room, one was holding up a lantern like object that shined red. They walked in, making growling and chattering noises. The spread out a bit, and Rebuz saw his chance. He had moved little from his position next to the door and was surprised he wasn’t seen. He crouched a bit and strode up to one who had wandered from the one with the lantern. He got close, close enough to hear it breathe. He was surprised it had not yet noticed, and thought these creatures were more stupid then the ancient ones had portrayed. Then he thought that they probably did not know the Elvidions had entered the conflict.

He stepped a little closer, and pulled back his right arm, drawing his small plasma blade installed in the hand and stabbed it through its heart, located foolishly directly in the middle of its body, between its two lungs. The creature let out a small roar, and then whimpered. The other turned and grunted, Rebuz watched as it raised its gun and then the gun fell, arm still attached. The drone looked at the newly made stub and tried to screech, but another plasma blade pierced the back of his head, extruding from his mouth. The blade’s end disappeared again and the eerie blue light swung through the air, decapitating the drone, and it falls to the ground.

Rebuz now spotted Akeel, who had drawn his much larger plasma blade and killed the second. Elrond and Biozard stood off to the side, Twilight Swords at the ready. Rebuz nodded inside his helmet and walked toward the door, the others followed. The walked out the door, scanning the halls, and chose a way and went down the way.

Walking in the old halls of their ancestors seemed to give Rebuz a burst of energy, and he waited for his mission info log to boot. The others followed close behind him, scanning the area as they went.

“This place looks as if it was used for a dust collection facility,” commented Biozard.

“No Elvidion has walked it’s halls in several centuries. Mind your tongue when speaking about our ancestor’s work,” said Elrond.

“Yeah, you would know, wouldn’t you?” mentioned Akeel, “How was the great wars?”

“They were as all wars are, necessary but hard. I was never in any battles, Akeel, for I was only as young as Biozard,” said Elrond.

“Hey…”

“I do, however, remember the glorious day when the last queen was captured, and the Gilgamites put to rest in their chambers,” continued Elrond.

“Until now,” said Akeel.

“Silence, it is not that story we walk but our own in the making. Try concentrating on this one,” said Rebuz.

They walked on a bit more, passing old sleeping chambers, weapon chambers, and even a few recreation chambers, which saw little to no use. When Rebuz’s mission info log booted up he activated a compass to the location of the prison, where the queen would lay in wait, and the location of human forces they must avoid. Rebuz dispersed the info amongst his group, whose acknowledgment lights blinked. Rebuz continued walking, until the hall widened into a dining area. An old kitchen was still seen, and some tables still stuck out from the ground.

Rebuz noticed a template not to far away, lying on the table. He walked over and picked it up. It read:
Declaration of Victory

On this fine day, our forces have defeated the heretic, sinful, and infidelic creatures, and we are now open to continue our march to salvation, looking for our brother species. It falls on heavy hearts to know we suffered many casualties to reach victory, but know that they did not die and vein, and now join our lord in heaven. This day, because of knowledge of other races like Gilgamites, we establish the first Elvidion Military. It is a great leap in our species fate, but if we are to counter evil like this we must be better equipped. If you wish to be a part of this please sign up at the Nearest citadel and pick up arms. The defense of our race is needed, and lines have been drawn. We prey that this event will not damage, but strengthen our faith and lead us on to our forgiveness and salvation. God bless, Amen.
† P~ Zasz †


Rebuz put down the template and shook his head. Elrond picked it up, and passed it to Biozard.

“I remember the day quit well when those were received, but no one much cared for them. The news had already been passed around several times,” said Elrond.

“Protice Zasz, he said these words?” asked Rebuz.

“He was head of the newly birthed ‘military’ at the time. He commanded the fleet that fought at three major captures, and was present when the first news of the last queen was reported frozen,” replied Elrond.

“Explains why he’s where he is,” mentioned Akeel, “What I don’t get is why he isn’t Quen Protice? That victory could have leaded him to that position by now.”

“High Quen takes a lot more then a few victories to obtain,” said Rebuz, “but I would not be surprised if he earns it within the century.”

Rebuz took a few steps away from them, examining a few claw marks on a nearby table, and an empty Twilight Sword projectile clip. Rebuz picked up the clip and examined it, all shots fired.

“Elrond, what installation is this?” asked Rebuz.

“Installation 6-487 in system 48.70, code “Warswick” after human name for it. Why do you ask, Tork? It is all clearly stated in the mission info log,” answered Elrond.

“Hmm,” answered Rebuz, and he discarded the clip.

Then one of Rebuz’s censors pinged. He brought up a censor screen on his visor’s inside screen and found the censor, intense sound censor, and he zoomed on it.

“What is this?” asked Elrond.

“An intense sound censor,” answered Biozard.

“Newly installed,” said Rebuz.

After a nit of grumbling, Elrond stated, “We did not need or use these in my years. How is this supposed to help us?”

“It picks up highly intense sound waves and tracks them, you know, like yelling or screeches and stuff. It’s supposed to help us with Gilgamites,” answered Biozard, throwing in, “and we need this in my years.”

“There must be some Gilgamites activity up ahead,” said Akeel.

“I don’t hear anything,” said Biozard.

“Just because you don’t, doesn’t mean that the stone doesn’t either. It’s far away, very faint,” said Rebuz, “Come on, let’s go.”

They headed out of the dining area and back into endless corridors and mazes. Again, the censor pinged, this time Rebuz heard the noise. It was a screech, high pitched.

“Gilgamites,” said Rebuz.

They quickened their pace, and continued down the corridor. They reached an intersection, five hallways meeting in a small circular room. Rebuz looked around, and grunting and growling was heard over running footsteps. Rebuz didn’t have to say anything as he jumped and grabbed hold of the wall edges above one of the hallways. He looked around; his team had done sort of the same. Then a pack of Drones ran into the room.

Completely oblivious to the Zul’ Nugul, they ran immediately down one of the hallways, grunting and barking while their heavy footsteps disappeared.

“Quickly,” said Rebuz, and he dropped from his perch onto the ground and took off in pursuit.

He didn’t have time to see if the others were following, he just followed the pack. Soon, the censor was going wild, all in the same area. Other screeches and roars were heard over the grunting and growls of the Drones. Soon, Rebuz heard sounds of gunfire, definitely the Gilgamites weaponry.

What were they firing at? What were the Gilgamites up to?

Rebuz slowed down, thinking it over, letting the Drones go ahead a little. This is when he noticed the footsteps of his men around him. Soon, the sounds of warfare where louder, explosions could be heard, a Rat-ta-tat-tat of strange gunfire could be picked out, even a different form of yelling that wasn’t really a bark or growl but was more of a moaning and puffing way of speech.

Humans?

Rebuz slowed down, and eventually stopped, as the Drones went ahead a little more. His team stopped, too, guns following the drones.

“Humans? The humans are here?” said Rebuz.

“How did they enter?” asked Biozard.

“Let them deal with the Gilgamites, we now have a distraction to find a way out of here,” said Elrond, “besides, they’re as good as dead and we can’t expose ourselves.

Rebuz thought a moment, and then nodded in his suit.

“We must help them,” he said.

“What?” said Elrond.

“If your right, then they’ll probably be dead by the time we get there. If you’re not, then maybe we’ll have a chance to settle this dispute once and for all,” said Rebuz.

“Tork, that would be in direct violation of-” started Akeel.

“And letting them die? Violation of what? Our religion. What’s the worst violation?” said Rebuz, and he headed off in the direction of gunfire.

The others sighed, but followed loyally. Rebuz headed up until he noticed the Gilgamites up ahead, they were at the edge of a turn to another hall, and they shot down it. Rebuz looked around, and saw what he was looking for, rafters that were still intact. Rebuz pointed to them, and he and his team scaled the wall and used them has a mini floor. They then walked on them and got above the Gilgamites to see who they were fighting upon.

Sure enough, there was a group of humans in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by Gilgamites. They had stacked up bodies of recently killed Gilgamites and used them as cover to fire back at the Gilgamites. They were yelling things to, and at, one another. Rebuz tried to translate some of it, but got bits and pieces.

“…fashioned led you ugly bastards!”

“…we’re going to die, we’re dead!”

“Keep fighting!”

“Keep your head down, Private!”

The Rebuz noticed something, a Drone Elite. It had appeared on the side the pack he had followed was shooting. He seemed to have spotted one of the humans, and chosen him as a target. He let out a roar and charged, waving his sword. The human bullets seemed to be getting absorbed by it as it charged, and Rebuz’s heart pumped. They didn’t stand a chance. Then, he noticed one of the humans stop firing and draw a combat knife of theirs. Rebuz was confused for a moment, then the human charged the Drone Elite. Rebuz was almost amazed.

“Ruben, no!”

“…die on me, you crazy…”

Rebuz admired the human’s courage, and then took pity on him. He didn’t stand a chance. Rebuz saw them close, and watched closely. Before he knew what he was doing, he already ejected his projectile clip, put it away, and inserted a plasma clip. He took aim, there wasn’t much time left. He aimed, followed the Drone Elite’s head, and fired one shot. The shot soared clean and true. Right down on the Drone Elite’s head. The force from the shot caused it to get knocked into the air, still going forward on the momentum. The sword flew out of its hands. The human noticed the shot and rolled on the ground, under the beast, and took cover next to another fallen Drone body.

At that point it was all or nothing. His team knew the same. He jumped from the rafter and free fell to the ground. They hit it and the gunfire stopped. The four Zul’ Nugul pointed their weapons at the Gilgamites around the area and the humans looked in aw.

“What the hell…” said one of them.

Rebuz thought back to his human speaking classes, and mustered all his might to say one word in human.

“Get down,” he mustered to say, and the humans saw two of the Elvidion rifles pointed toward them and they hit the ground. The lone human looked shocked, but he, too took cover.

The Gilgamites faces crunched, and a giant battle cry came from each, and they outright charged them. Every one of them did. Some shot while running, but most just charged. Rebuz and his team opened fire. Rebuz had not had a chance to change clips, so he was the only one firing plasma. His bolts ripped through the Drones and especially the Warglers, and on through others, while the other made thuds and dropped the majority of the attackers with a blanket of bullets. The ones that ran from the human end hoped their makeshift cover, but ignored them and rushed toward the Elvidions. One of the humans drew a small combat knife and once and a while jumped up and grabbed a Gilgamite, slicing its throat and taking it under to stab it more.

Rebuz reloaded his gun, this time with projectiles, and noticed the Gilgamites getting closer, too close. He fired a bit before he was forced to hit one with the butt of his rifle. He noticed they had gotten close, and surrounded him.

He stepped to the side and hit one in its back, sending it toward Akeel, who had pulled out his plasma blade and expertly hacked at the Gilgamites. Elrond had also abandoned his rifle for duel plasma blades on his wrist. Rebuz slammed one in the face, then shot off a few rounds into another’s throat while punching one beside it. He slammed the butt of his gun against the head of the one he punched, cracking its skull, and fired a few more shots into a group of Gilgamites. Rebuz risked a glance behind him. Biozard fired mercilessly into the crowd of Gilgamites, which had thinned greatly, and Akeel continued swinging into the bodies of Drones with his blade. Elrond had taken down a few expert kills, slicing the throat of one Gilgamite then, with the same swing, piercing the skull of another; he used the puncture to lift his body into the air and swing his other arm, decapitating another drone.

Then Rebuz returned his mind to the battle, and noticed that a drone had gotten too close. It already had its gun ready to swing its butt at him, and he couldn’t react in time. His eyes widened as he thought of what to do. As the Drone drew closer, he was suddenly thrown aside, and he stuck against the wall. The Drone Elite’s sword was protruding from its underbelly, and it just starred at it, dropping its rifle. Rebuz looked at the throwing. He saw the human from earlier, but he did not see him. He had wasted no time in grabbing a Gilgamite rifle and started firing at the advancing Gilgamites. Rebuz understood and joined in. Thanks to the combined power of their fire, Elrond had gained enough space to draw his, and they soon all held back the advancing Gilgamites.

They soon stopped charging, and began firing from where they stood. Bullets pinged off Rebuz’s suit, but he did not flinch, only reloaded and fired. Soon, the last Gilgamite on their side fell, and they turned to help the other two.

Rebuz was too late. He watched has Akeel made a fatal swipe, cutting a Drone in half, but the strike left him open as a Wargler rammed into him, forcing him to the ground, his plasma blade rolled away from him. He drew his smaller plasma blade and stabbed the creature in the head, killing it and rolling it off him, but he was not fast enough to stop the drone from standing on him. The drone pointed his rifle, point blank, at Akeel’s visor. Rebuz couldn’t react in time before the Drone pulled the trigger, shattering Akeel’s visor and black blood spluttering into a pool around the suit. At first Akeel’s body shuddered, then in stopped moving.

Rebuz let out a yell, and he ran toward the drone, picking up the plasma blade along the way. He turned it on, and swung it at the drone’s head, decapitating it with one go. It fell, and he turned to the others still running at him. With the aid of the other two, he began killing the rest of them with such a force, he felt as though all the fury of his ancestors started burning inside him.

Rebuz slashed at another Drone, and then looked for another target. All he saw were bodies. The other two were looking around, too, and they also didn’t see anything. He turned and ran toward Akeel, and knelt over his body.

“Akeel, Akeel!” he said, and he looked into the shattered visor.

The Suit did its job, and no bullets punctured through, but that left a pool of black blood was kept in the suit. The shredded head of Akeel lay in it, barely recognizable. Rebuz shook his head, and grabbed a small gold coin from one of his pockets, and he placed it in the helmet of the suit.

Rebuz stood up and realized that Biozard and Elrond stood to either side of him.

“Rest well, my brother. Know that your faith has earned you your salvation,” said Rebuz.

The other two nodded, saying, “Amen.”

Rebuz nodded, and then turned to the humans. They had regrouped, and were watching them. Rebuz nodded, and started walking toward them, throwing the memory of Akeel’s body out of his mind.


Wed Aug 27, 2008 6:26 pm
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Ok, for God's Sake please work with me. I just spent 35 minutes typing up an entire (THE BIGGEST) Commentary and it get's lost in posting! I hate my internet. Brand new computer, new internet, and NOTHING works. Dang...

Anyway, you guessed it. It's time for another...

Cleansing Warswick: Chapter Four Commentary

Alright, in Chapter Eight We got a little more insight into the world of the Elvidions, but they were introduced in chapter Four. The Elvidions show my handywork at their highest, where my sub plots, secret meanings, and alternate storyline intertwine at their most! The most amount of my work that went into the making of Cleansing Warswick was in things you'll never hear nor ever hear in any of my books. But without further ado, it's time to dig into my most secrets of secrets, my info sheet! Let's grab something of the Elvidions out of there for you!
Quote:
This ancient race has been around since the beginning of time itself, over 140.2 million years. They were always peaceful, having only a few accounts of conflicts within their race and only one real war. As soon as they were able, they started exploring the stars. Then they became as Earth humans did and reached a wall. Unlike the Earth humans, the Void affected them little and only set them back a few years. Soon they were going from galaxy to galaxy. That’s when it happened, they found a planet infested with a barbaric race they came to call the Gilgamites (Gilgathons). At the same time, a meteorite landed on one of their already colonized planets, it was a Gilgamite queen. The Elvidions found this a unique chance to study another semi-advanced race. They began trapping and studying them, only to find out that their only motivation in life was to kill. This is where they posed a threat to the Elvidions, who declared war on them. Not a military founded race, like the humans, they knew little of how to fight and had little combat equipment. Though their acrobatic bodies and skill proved useful in combat, it was, unfortunately, not useful enough. As they started loosing the war they quickly began making up weapons of every sort, from energy swords to “primitive” rifles. When they had ridden their world and this new world of the two queens, they found that it was incredibly useless to have killed them. They went exploring, and their scientist began inventing weapons of every sort at an alarming rate, soon every ship had a weapons system, and that’s when they discovered that even more planets were infested with these creatures. With their new armament and arsenal of weapons they went in to battle more furiously, but found that obliterating them would be too costly, since they lost over 1 million Elvidions in the first two encounters. They recorded and studied over 30 different kinds of races for Gilgathons and 100 varieties. They decided instead of killing them, they’d capture them. They then traveled the galaxy finding the Gilgathons and battling them, only to carbon freeze their queen and the majority of the Gilgathons. They then built prisons to house the creatures, and the only key they hid, so that they would never again need to worry about them.

Then, as they recovered from the final combat to carbon freeze their “Mother Mind”, they found signs of another race, Earth. These humans were still in what they considered a primitive phase, put they were very curious. The Elvidions used their new experimental cloaking to watch them, and watch them they did. They saw their first steps into outer space, then their first steps on their moon. What they saw as a huge feet, the Elvidions saw as amusing. These creatures reminded them of their primitive stages. Back on their home planet and galaxy, scientists labored hard to invent weaponry and get a military started so that if the need shall every rise again, they would be able to fight. As they did, they watched the growing of this race. Soon they started exploring their solar system, then others. That’s when this race found Warswick, and Coinshack Rebuz decided action needed to be taken. Warswick was one of the planets that the Gilgamites lay frozen, and his fears came true. As the council decided if they should take action or not, they humans unlocked and unleashed the Gilgamites, and began their own war with them. Rebuz saw this as a failure, and these foolish humans had destroyed what they had worked for. So, the Elvidions wait for the council as they watch Warswick become consumed with the infestation.

Now, the Elvidions are a very diverse race, and ancient in all means. Instead of "Race" like human's skin color or Gilgathon Sub-Species; Elvidions have major physical changes in their species. Everything from Grunites to Drunthors, major changes in physical and status conditions. That does not make them a different species, just they are simalarly different (it makes sense, trust me). Now Before I get into the races and such, I want you to remember they are all the same race and species, and not several different species working together.

Races= Zul' Nugul (the main race and msot common), Protice (The least common race, leaders and prophets), Grunites (Second most common, brains, engineers, scientists), Drunthors (Second least common, heavy soldiers)

That's all for races now. Surprisingly, I don't have anything "Written" on each one. That's gonna chnage soon. This and the reading will help you understand. Ok, now one of the biggest characters are also introduced in this chapter, Rebuz. With us talking about Rebuz, let's bring up all the character bios of this chapter!

Rebuz- The previous coinshack has been loyal to the Elvidions for centuries. Though still considered young, at 2000 years old, he has studied hard on the subject of Gilgamites. He upholds his species traditions to a T, but when the humans released the beasts he knew he must act quickly. As all Elvidions, he’s fearless, loyal, and peaceful in nature. As a regular Zul’ Nugul, he holds little power in giant affairs, but when he is updated to rank of Tork, his word is law on the battlefield.

Zasz- As head Protice, he’s also the one that shows most concern for the soldiers of the Elvidions as individuals. Little is known of him or the Protice, but we do know that he makes the final call about what happens to the Elvidions under his command.

Serks- Another Protice; is the most pugnacious out of the Protice. He show’s little concern for anyone unless they have a direct route to something religious or to his life. He despises the humans and believes them not to be the prophesized “brother species”.

Now, understand something. The Elvidion ranks are different and easy to understand!
-Coinshack (The most common rank, lowest rank in the military
-Tork (Next rank, commanding rank. Anything from Sergeant to Lieutenant)
-Captor (Next Rank, Supreme Commanding rank)
-Ship Master (Leader of a certain space vessal/ship)
-Protice (highest rank. Protice are considered leaders, so they have final say in anything. Protice have their own ranks, which I won't get into.)
-Other (Other Ranks riddle the military for Grunites, Ship Crew, and medical personel. Most of them still fit into the others in some way, but they're "title" will vary)

Ok, I think that covers everything except the Honor Gaurd, which is a rank in itself. Since they neither command nor are exactly commanded, I didn't add them in. Although, as far as importance goes their rank is up there with Ship Master and Captor. Note: The Captor rank replaced Supreme Tork when the Elvidions met the humans, and studied their military system. Many other such things can been seen throughout the Elvidion Military recently.

Ok... I think that touches on the Elvidions for now. Now, onto the second half!

Now, we kinda see the departure of Ruben and the Hand of God soldiers that are going with them. The biggest thing here is the notation of one of the biggest and most reconizable unit in all of the H.O.G. military, the LRV. The Light Recon Vehicle is what you gte when you're under equipt, under paid, and under attack! Almost zero deffense, little to no firepower, and looks like crap, it's a soldier's worse nightmare. The only things this vehicle has to offer is it's amazing speed and crazy drivers. The drivers who specialize in driving these things are the daredevil Desert Rats. The Desert rats got their names for not caring about life, and they will risk it all for a thrill! Although they are feared and often disliked in the alliance's military, any soldier wcould tell you of a time where they're fearlessness has saved their life or won a battle or two. Desert rats and the LRV become one of the most signature units of the Hand of God, and for good reason.

Now... uh... besides that. I think the rest of the chapter speaks for itself. I did go through the entire chapter as I have the others, including the end, but the erasing of my orriginal leaves me giving you the important stuff wihtout the boring read. I hope you enjoyed the ultimate BIGGEST COMMENTARY EVER, probably until the next book. I might speak to soon, because we haven't done a Gilgathon part yet, or a LEW part. I may have to purposfully spread them out so you have reason to read the later chapter commentaries. Ok,

Since posting has diminished in the past week, and views has gone 160+ and we're on page two (yay!) I think I'll leave it open for discussion. With chapter eight out, we're nearly halfway through the book. When we reach the halfway mark (chapter 9-10) feel free to give me a layout on how you feel the book is going/will go. I feel it goes a little fast, but we'lls ee what you think.


Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:05 am
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Ok, the last time a Chapter was posted was wednesday, another is deffinatley up! Again, may I reiderate that this story is not for all audiences!

Chapter 9
New Alliance



Ruben shook his head; the smoke had yet to clear. He looked around, he didn’t see anyone else. The large figures that had joined the fight had stopped, and they were looking around. Ruben pulled the trigger of the shredder he currently held again, nothing. He had been out of bullets for a while, he guessed. He dropped it and looked passed the figures. He saw His dad and Leroy had stood up and looked around in aw. He slowly started walking toward them.

His father looked at him when he came within range and walked up to Ruben, embracing him.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” he yelled, pulling Ruben away and looking into his eyes, “You would have been killed.”

“I’m sorry, dad, I don’t know what came over me. I just… seemed to know how to kill him,” said Ruben.

“Lucky these dudes are here,” said Leroy, a little uneasy.

“That was a brave thing, boy,” said Sergeant McCoy, “And I’ve never seen anybody think so fast before.”

The Sergeant turned to Frank, who had just approached him.

“You alright, Private?” he said.

“Yeah, Sarge, but I think I got hit in the shoulder. I’m alright, though,” answered Frank.

“Of coarse you’re alright, you’re a marine. Now toughen up!” said the Sergeant, then he turned to the figures saying, “And who the hell are these gods of war?”

“I don’t know,” said Clara, “But did you see them move? I’ve never seen anything like it. That had to be nine packs of mostly drones with at the least 60% accuracy!”

“Y-you think they’re Gilgathon?” asked Leroy.

“Yeah, dip ****, they just decided to become rouge and kill tons of their own in an effort to save a group of misfit humans,” said Sergeant McCoy.

Ruben looked over toward them. One of them had knelt next to one that had fallen during the battle. It spoke in a language that seemed very water-like and smooth. The other two had joined them, and seemed to mourn the loss of their comrade.

The figures were big, about 8 feet tall and bulky. They seemed metallic and stone like, their rifles were the same, and hung on some unknown mechanism on their backs. They didn’t seem to have a face, as if they were wearing a helmet.

Then one of them turned a bit toward them, and then started walking toward them. Ruben tensed up a bit. He heard Leroy take in a breath, and back up a little. Sergeant McCoy breathed in a bit on his cigar stub, which had been put out some time in the fight or long walk and hadn’t been relit. Clara slung her sniper rifle on her back and placed her hand on her pistol. Captain Onyx was the only one who seemed cool, and he stepped forward a bit, meeting the figure a little ways.

The figure raised its right arm up to its chest and bowed slightly, in a type of greeting. Captain Onyx nodded a little and did the same.

“Thanks for the extra kick,” said Sergeant McCoy.

Then the figure spoke, in a deeper voice, though not incredibly deep, and quite fluent.

“Greetings, humans. We do not wish you harm,” said the one who had walked up.

The other two joined them as Captain Onyx looked back toward the others and back to the creature.

“Thank you. We figured you didn’t, if you did we’d be dead by now,” said Captain Onyx.

“That is so,” said one to the right of the speaking one.

The Middle one said something to him, then turned back to the humans saying, “I am Rebuz, apparently the first ambassador of the Elvidions.”

“The what?” said Leroy.

“Elvidions. We are a race older then yours, and we have been watching you,” said Rebuz.

“What?” gasped Leroy.

“If you’ve been watchin’ us then how come we didn’t know you’re peeping asses were up there?” asked Sergeant McCoy.

“You’re not as advanced as you may think,” said Rebuz, and then the black plate that Ruben had come to adopt as a face slid back, showing it was indeed a visor.

Inside was a black, cylindrical head, and two eyes. A mouth was at the bottom. Ruben then realized that the body was actually a suit, though not to much bigger then the creature inside.

“So, you’re name is Rebuz?” said Captain Onyx.

“Correct, Tork Rebuz,” said Rebuz.

“Tork?”

“It is a high rank in our military,” said Rebuz.

“Ah, Well I’m Captain Jack Onyx,” said Onyx.

“Pleased, Captain Onyx,” said Rebuz, the other two lowered their visors, too.

“Yeah, and this is my son, Private Ruben Onyx.”

Rebuz looked at Ruben, and Ruben waved a bit. Rebuz stepped forward, and kneeled so he could look into Ruben’s eyes.

“You,” said Rebuz, “You were the one who took on the Drone Elite.”

“D-Drone Elite?” said Leroy, “There are more of them?”

“Yes,” answered Rebuz.

Leroy Gulped as Rebuz turned back to Ruben.

“I’ve never seen such tactics as yours. That took a lot of courage”

“Thanks?” answered Ruben.

“It was stupid,” said Clara.

“In most cases,” said the figure to the right of Rebuz.

A blood hurtling scream was heard, and the two Elvidions slapped their visor down and Sergeant McCoy and Frank swung around, rifles at the ready.

“I am afraid our talk is no longer secure. Humans, if you would be so kind as to follow me and my comrades,” said Rebuz and they turned and started walking away.

Ruben looked back to the others, who were all looking at one another.

“Should we trust them?” asked Frank.

“We don’t have any choice,” said Captain Onyx, and he headed off to follow them.

“Let’s go, ladies, move like you got a purpose!” yelled the sergeant.

“Hey,” said Clara.

“Sorry, ma’am, didn’t mean to bring down the other sex. Move it!” yelled the sergeant again and they took off after the Elvidions.

As they walked, Captain Onyx decided it was a good idea to get back in touch with Dex, he’d been exceptionally quiet since the battle.

“Dex? Dex, do you read me? Dex?”

“Sorry, Captain. I kinda lost you during your fight and didn’t know what was going on,” said Dex.

“Well, you’re never gonna believe what’s going on down here,” continued Captain Onyx.

“Same here,” said Dex.

“What’s up?”

“I don’t know, something’s going down up here. Everyone’s tight, General thinks you’re dead, or as good as. Every soldier is being called to Fortress Heaven, and the people on the wall are tense as hell, I think I even heard a few shots fired,” continued Dex.

“Think someone’s attacking?” asked Clara.

“No clue, but whatever you’re gonna do you better do it quick and get the hell back here.”

Captain Onyx glanced at Clara and Leroy, both shook their heads. Ruben’s eyes widened, and the Sergeant and Frank looked at one another. The Elvidions seemed to have slowed, and tried to hear them talk.

“What else you got?” said Captain Onyx.

“Well, no read on the information we found.”

Captain Onyx’s eyes shot straight at Rebuz, then Captain Onyx said, “Uh-huh…”

“Well, it turns out that where you are isn’t really a cavern. I learned something about a new race, unknown exactly, but they seemed to have fought the Gilgathons before, and won. They locked them in that temple. Looks like we unleashed them.”

Captain Onyx nodded, and said, “Keep me posted, we’ll try to get you more information.”

“Pardon?”

“Keep in touch with Clara’s cam and mission log, ok? Trust me.”

There was a pause, and then Dex’s voice said, “Holy crap! Who are these people?”

“Mission log.”

“Fine, give me a sec.”

Then Captain Onyx gave a second before speeding up to walk next to Rebuz.

“Do you know where we are, Rebuz?” he asked.

“Yes, we are in the ancient halls of our ancestors, near the prison of Gilgamites,” said Rebuz.

“Gilgamites? You mean the Gilgathons?” hollered Frank from the back.

“Yes, your translation. This is one of the sites of our temporary base and the tombs of the fallen for this battle,” said Rebuz, “We adopted the name Warswick from the human name.”

“So, you guys battled here? With the Gilgathons?” asked Leroy.

“Yes, we waged war for two centuries against the Gilgamites, all across the galaxy,” said the other figure.

“Well, not us. We were not yet born. Our ancestors fought and died to freeze them,” said Rebuz.

“So I guess we kinda screwed that up, huh?” said Frank.

“No, we’re going to fix what they didn’t have the balls to finish. Freeze them up, what the hell? We’re here to make sure we kick their ass back to the Stone Age,” said Sergeant McCoy.

“I hope you’re correct,” said Rebuz.

“What?” said Ruben and Leroy together.

“We were not sent down here for reconnaissance work. As you could very well tell, we must not allow the beasts to escape Warswick,” said Rebuz, stopping to address the others.

“How would they?” asked Clara.

“Mutating, evolving,” answered the other figure.

“You see, all Gilgamites are spawned of eggs. There is a queen, and they spawn eggs. For the different races there are different time spans. Their aerial fleets have not yet hatched, but space transport will soon hatch and they will challenge the nearby planet,” said Rebuz.

“So, you’re not here to freeze?” asked Clara.

“No, we would need more of us to freeze,” said Rebuz, “We have come to destroy, and that is where you come in.”

“We come in?” said Ruben.

“Yes,” said Rebuz, and he pulled out a large, slightly glowing crystal out of some compartment behind him.

They all stared at it, it pulsed slightly.

“It is a, in your words, a detonation crystal. This will destroy the queen and the majority of the Gilgamite population on this planet. That is where you come in,” said Rebuz, leaving a slight pause before saying, “I hope you, now knowing of our existence, will help us cleanse Warswick of the beast infestation.”

There was a quiet pause. The humans just looked at him. Then Leroy stepped forward a bit, thinking.

“Uh, t-this queen would be… at the temple?” he asked.

“Correct,” said Rebuz.

“And… that’s where a lot of Gilgathons will be?” asked Leroy, again.

“Indeed, the majority of the Gilgamite population on this planet,” said Rebuz.

“This planet?” asked Ruben under his breath.

“Uh-huh… so… there’s a lot of Gilgathons… and we need to place a giant glowing bomb… and get out,” asked Leroy.

“Affirmative,” said Rebuz and the other figure together.

“Ok… I’m out,” said Leroy.

“What?” said Clara.

“I can’t do it.” said Leroy.

“Who said we are?” said Frank.

“Yeah, it’s not like we’re going to go on this suicide mission,” chimed in Clara.

“Actually, yes we are.”

Everyone turned to Captain Onyx. He stood a bit away, leaning on the wall. Everyone just stared at him, and he was shaking his head a little.

“Excuse me?” said Frank.

“Excused, I said we’re going,” said the Captain again, and he took a few steps closer to the group.

“Last time I checked, you weren’t a commanding officer of my army, so I don’t need to take crap form you,” said Frank.

“He ain’t, but I am, dumb ass,” said Sergeant McCoy.

“Why, Captain?” asked Leroy.

“Yeah, we’d be better in force, sir. We should regroup with the others,” said Clara.

“No, didn’t you just hear the man? They’re growing by the minute. Every second wasted is just one step closer for us loosing this war,” the captain paused to look around, then he started up again, “And now we have a chance unlike any other. Not generals, not your bunkmate back at base, not some other grunt, us! Now we have help from three special beings from another civilization far greater then ours that can probably get us through this alive. Now would any of you want to throw this down, and possibly risk what’s left of this planet and possibly the human race?”

Everyone was quiet for a bit. The Captain just looked around, to each one of them. He stopped his eyes on Sergeant McCoy and Frank.

“And you two, calling yourself “protectors of humanity”. I was there when the L.E.W. disproved that, and now?”

“Hey, I know what that Colonel did back on Xzar, and ashamed of it as was the rest of the L.E.W. and anyone who was under his harsh command. I personally think that all could have been settled without a fight, but you Hogs thought otherwise. Now about us being cowards…” started Sergeant McCoy.

He turned to Frank, and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Are you dead, marine?” he asked Frank.

“N-No, sir,” answered Frank.

“Then listen up, Private! When I was first on the core, we didn’t have any of these fine pieces of machinery you so greatly take for granted. We had our training, our boots, and our fists! And we were happy! Marines for millions of years have proven their worth in blood and steel and victory! Buckle up, because you’re one very lucky marine that’s about to stop an entire alien invasion of walking green snot!” said Sergeant McCoy, who turned to the others and shouted, “Our victorious style shall not be defeated! Hoo-Raw”

The Captain smiled a bit, and then turned to his own team.

“Captain, you know me and Leroy, on your team since it started; and the only damn thing that has kept us alive longer then anyone else who have come and gone through our squad is pure luck,” said Clara, “One of these days… that luck will run out.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Leroy, “Besides, they’re talking about walking into a Gilgathon base, a Gilgathon nest, a Gilgathon death trap!”

“I’ll go!”

Clara and Leroy turned to Ruben, who had spoken up suddenly. Captain Onyx seemed to be taken back a little, and his eyes glistened a bit.

“Well, my dad’s right. How would people think of us if we just ran away? What will we say when we look back when this is over and say ‘I should have done it, I should have tried’?” said Ruben.

Clara nodded a bit, and then turned to Captain Onyx.

“You know I’d follow you into the gates of hell itself, Captain. I… I just wished to express my concern,” she said.

“We share a similar fear, Sergeant. Don’t worry, I would never willingly put anyone in danger on purpose unless I was willing to go in first,” said Captain Onyx.

Leroy just shook his head, and turned his back on Captain Onyx. The Elvidions watched, and then turned to walk away.

“Then it is decided? You shall join us to cleanse these lands,” said Rebuz, “Welcome, now let’s continue our conversation on the move.”

With that, the Elvidions again took off, and the humans followed. It was a long and quiet trip. Ruben felt strange, like he had just signed away his life. Now what? He rests all he knows in the hands of two comrades, two enemies, and three unknown creatures he had just met. He didn’t know to think himself crazy or brave for trying to trust them. The only one he trusted at all was his father. He seemed to always know what was right.

Did he? Or did he just do whatever someone else wouldn’t do? Ruben never understood the way his father thought; just that it always seemed to work out. He also thought that the well being of any soldier was worth more then a mission objective; he always put his team before orders.

Ruben zoned back into reality, out of his thoughts. Frank had cleared his throat.

“So, you’re name is Rebuz, their leader? So, who are they?” he asked.

Rebuz stopped abruptly and turned to the humans, his face searching their faces.

“This,” he finally said, indicating to the silent figure to his right, Ruben’s left, “Is Elrond. He did not study human, so he does not speak human.”

The figured bowed a little and said something in their fluid-like speech. Then Rebuz indicated to the other figure.

“This is Biozard,” said Rebuz.

“Greetings,” said the figure to Rebuz’s left.

Everyone seemed to nod slightly to him.

“Tell me, human, why does it concern you so to know their tags?” said Rebuz, “They hold no form of leadership nor are they under your command.”

“Uh, I don’t know,” said Frank, “I… I was just wondering.”

Rebuz tilted his head slightly, then said, “And yours, human?”

Frank looked to face to face, and to his Sergeant, for help. They said nothing.

“Uh, Frank… Frank Dufraine.”

Rebuz nodded, and then turned to the other humans.

“Is it customary to learn the labels of all you fight with?” asked Rebuz.

“No, it’s just something we do,” said Captain Onyx.

“You know, get to know the people your with,” chimed Clara.

“Especially those you’re stuck underground in a Gilgathon cave with,” added Leroy.

“These halls are not of the beasts, human, we have preached this already” said Biozard harshly.

“You don’t do it?” asked Ruben.

Rebuz looked a bit confused, and then said, “You only learn the names of your friends, superiors, and those under your command and part of your team.”

“Ok, well it’s just that we introduce ourselves to each other,” said Captain Onyx, “So if we ever needed to communicate in battle.”

Rebuz still looked a bit confused, but he turned and continued. Everyone was silent for a bit after that. Ruben itched his arm, and realized that his sleeve was wet. He looked at it, and noticed he was bleeding. His dad glanced over, and saw Ruben bleeding.

“Ruben?” said Captain Onyx and he stopped Ruben and looked at his arm.

“It’s nothing, I must have cut it when I fell during the battle,” said Ruben.

“Well then, let’s see it,” said Captain Onyx.

Ruben rolled up his sleeve, and the gash on his forearm was clear. It was not as bad as he thought; he rolled over his arm, and looked at the tattooed Velociraptor on his lower wrist.

He heard it before he saw it. A slight movement in Sergeant McCoy’s head, he was looking at the mark. Before Ruben knew it he had a shotgun to his head.

“Holy crap, the boy’s a Raptor!” yelled the sergeant.

“A Raptor?” said Frank, and warily pointed his gun at Ruben.

Captain Onyx, Leroy, and Clara pointed their guns at the Sergeant, and there was a short stand off.

“A what?” asked Ruben.

“Back down, Sergeant,” said Clara.

“I swear, I’ll put a round right through your face!” yelled Leroy, “Make my day!”

“Wait, a Raptor? Holy crap!” said Frank, and he aimed more straight at Ruben.

“He’s no such thing, he’s my son,” said Captain Onyx.

“That ‘Boy’ is a danger to all things humane, and mostly us,” said the Sergeant.

“What’s a Raptor?” asked Ruben, again.

“Please, calm yourselves,” said Rebuz, “Your vitals are reading intense, you are extremely stressed. What seems to be the problem?”

“Stay out of this, don’t you understand! He’s going to kill us all!” said Frank, and he began to sweat.

“No he’s not!”

“Open your eyes, he holds the mark.”

“I thought they were a myth, what the hell?”

“Shut up, boy, we’re going to need all the concentration we can get!”

“What the hell’s going on down there?” Dex’s voice yelled over the com.

There was an uneasy stare down where everyone was quiet for a bit. Ruben’s heart raced. He looked at his father, then at Sergeant McCoy’s shotgun. Sergeant McCoy’s finger seemed to quiver on the trigger, and Ruben felt really nervous, and he felt death was close. He saw McCoy’s eyes shoot from person to person, then into his.

Then, the shotgun was wrenched from Sergeant McCoy’s hands, and McCoy stumbled back a bit. Rebuz held the gun in one arm, and some sort of weird gun attached to the hand of the suit. It pointed at the Sergeant.

“Enough of this nonsense, what is the meaning of this?” said Rebuz.

“That boy’s a danger to all of us.” said the Sergeant.

“No he isn’t!” said Captain Onyx, “He’s as much of a danger as a speck of dust to you now, you’re the threat.”

“Yeah, he didn’t grow up in Raptor training, dumb ass!” said Leroy.

There was a pause, the Ruben said, “What the hell is a Raptor and what’s Raptor training, what’s going on?”

The Sergeant looked from person to person. He turned to Rebuz and grabbed the shotgun from him, and slung it over his back.

“Fine, but I swear he makes a move, he’ll find his brains all over the damn wall,” said the Sergeant, and he continued to walk down the hallway again.

Rebuz looked to the others, the closest thing to a confused look on his face. He shook his head and sighed as he turned and followed the Sergeant, his two companions following. Captain Onyx wrapped his arms around Ruben, and pushed him along to follow.

“Don’t you worry, Ruben,” he whispered, “It’s nothing, forget about it.”

Ruben was still shaken, what did they know he didn’t? He felt his anger rising, and wanted to know some answers, but for the sake of argument he dropped it there, and planned to pick it up at a more convenient time. Now, he walked on into the unknown, questions and worries again filling his mind.


Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:21 am
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Sorry, been busy a while. Next chapter is UP!

Chapter 10
The Beginning of the Storm



Uri awoke with a jolt, looking around intently. Roger had, again, cocked a round into his chamber and stared out on the open. The night hadn’t helped the situation, and the lights on and around the Wall. The only light was that which shined from the stars and that which shined off the other planets.

“If ya keep doin’ that you’re goin’ to eject all ya bullets,” said Uri.

“I think I heard something,” Roger said below his voice.

“Yeah, sure ya do. You always hear sometin, and you eject a bunch of bullets like that then you won’t have any left for Lou,” continued Uri.

“Cut the chatter, son,” a voice said, “Just get ready.”

Uri raised his trainee cap and saw Sergeant Malcolm standing off to the side. He pointed his Battle Rifle down into Area-1 and searched the horizon.

“Sir, we’ve been ‘seein’ things’ for two days,” whined Uri.

“You know what we’re up against,” said Malcolm.

“No, actually I don’t,” said Uri.

Malcolm shot Uri an angry glance and continued looking across the baron landscape. Uri sighed, feeling horrible at his snapping at the sergeant.

“I didn’t mean to be a prick, kay? I’m just…” Uri started, and looked out into the stars.

Malcolm sighed and looked back at Uri, “He’ll be fine, we all know how it feels.”

Uri gave a slight chuckle that came out more of a sarcastic cough. Malcolm shook his head and sat down on a bag of equipment, looking back into the fortress.

“Epitaph’s team came in today,” he said, “They got jumped by a pack and lost three men, two wounded.”

“That leaves Lurtswieg and…” started Roger, then he stopped, looking at Uri.

“Lurtswieg has been out of contact for a month, they’re dead,” scoffed Uri.

They were silent a bit, then a man walked up to them, he wore all standard battle armor, only armed with a pistol.

“News of Captain Onyx’s team?” asked the messenger.

“What took ya so damn long?” yelled Uri, and he hopped up.

The messenger took some steps back, then cleared his voice and announced, “Dexter reports they’re still fine, but a brief fire fight with some Gilgathons left them out of contact.”

Uri’s eyes fell to the ground, and he slowly slumped back into his sitting position, propped up against the wall. The messenger continued.

“There aren’t any casualties, yet, but Dexter refuses to give much information to anyone, even the general. He’s locked himself in that radio room of his, and barely eats. When he does, they’re in there. He knows something he ain’t letting out.”

Uri nodded, and the messenger nodded and walked away, further down the hall. Malcolm sighed a bit. Since Captain Onyx and his team disappeared, the only person with any information seemed to be Dex. Uri worried for his friend, one of his only few friends.

Then a loud CRACK broke the silence. Uri instinctively hit the ground, he bumped into Malcolm, who had beaten him down; and then Roger, a little slow on the uptake, landed on him. There were some murmurs from up and down the Wall, and then someone started shouting orders.

“He was down before we heard the shot,” yelled the voice, “He’s hidin’ a ways away.”

Uri felt Roger take up a fighting stance near the “window”, staying low. Uri managed to raise his head enough to see that the messenger was on the ground a few yards away, a pool of blood around his head. Uri grabbed his gun and made his way over to his position. He knew his assault rifle couldn’t beat a sniper rifle, but some of the other snipers and battle rifle owners might be able to find the sniper. Malcolm raised, Battle Rifle at the ready, and made his way to the “window”.

Uri peaked over the top, just as Malcolm whispered, “There he is.”

Uri looked, and saw a figure making his way over a hill, disappearing from sight. He was wearing standard L.E.W. blue and silver battle armor, a sniper’s helmet on his head. He had a sniper rifle in his hand, and some slates of rock on his forearms and back, for some camouflage.

Malcolm lowered his rifle, watching him go.

“Dang, it’s a L.E.W. Sniper Scout,” he said.

“Take him out,” said Roger.

“No use, besides, we’re gonna need the ammo,” replied Malcolm.

Uri looked toward the horizon, and thought of what Malcolm meant. It was pretty obvious. Uri imagined any minute a hundred L.E.W. soldiers advancing over the hill, and attacking, or worse, a L.E.W. Main Battle Tank. He shook his head, and looked toward the inside of the fortress.

“How long?” he asked.

“He was alone, and is a scout… they need to get a sizable force… so… anywhere from 3-4 days till the first strike, and 5-6 before a main strike that would…” started Malcolm, but he didn’t need to finish.

Uri walked a bit back, and looked over the side, into the base. “The Road”, the nickname to the main road/ pathway that runs the whole length of “The Wall” and, at two places, goes directly into the center of the base. Down there were messengers. Whoever wasn’t on some sort of port phone, was hoping into the passenger seat of a L.R.V. transport and tore off down the road. People scrambled, soldiers were awoken from their bunks. Then the call rang out.

“All units, man your battle stations!”

Uri closed his eyes a bit, as if the entire hubbub wasn’t enough, now there was a face to the problem. Uri though about his chances of seeing Ruben again, and he thought of Linda. His chances of surviving this war were just cut in half.


Ruben breathed deep, something smelled awful. He had tried to keep close to his dad, but he strayed, finding himself more toward the front near Rebuz and his team. They didn’t talk much; when they did it was to each other, in their own language. It had been a while since Ruben had asked what time it was, it felt like years since he had seen daylight.

“So, human,” started Rebuz, “Tell me of this feud between your clan and the Sergeant McCoy’s.”

“Clan? Oh, the war,” said Ruben and he looked on, “I don’t know much about it, just the L.E.W. and the Hand of God got into fighting. That’s all.”

“I see, why does the hand of your God wish to fight the L.E.W.?” said Biozard.

“No, you see, the Hand of God is the name of a rebel alliance, not an actually god. I’m not completely sure what our… “feud” is, I guess we just don’t see eye to eye.”

“So, you’re a heretic?” asked Rebuz.

“A what?” said Ruben.

“A heretic. Part of a heretical group. Wait, maybe because your organization is religious, it is the Linked Earth Worlds who are the heretics,” said Rebuz.

“What? No, no ones religious. At least I’m not. Our politics aren’t based around religion,” said Ruben.

“But, why? Religion and faith are the two most important aspects in life,” said Biozard.

“Well, not with us. A lot of people aren’t even religious at all,” said Ruben.

“What, but, how?” said Rebuz, in what sounded like a chuckle, “could you possibly believe that all of this is a coincidence, that it all happened by accident?”

Ruben sat there, “well… yeah, I guess. You know, evolution and all that.”

Rebuz looked at Ruben a bit, and shook his head, looking from Elrond to Biozard for what seemed like advice. He then turned his attention back to Ruben and seemed to stutter over words.

“Human, let me try to explain it from an infidelic standpoint. How do you find hope, love, and comfort in the world?”

“What is that supposed to mean? People find-” started Ruben.

“No,” interrupted Rebuz, “I mean true hope, true love, true comfort, not just the cheap sins your race takes pride in.”

Ruben looked confused, so Rebuz thought it a good time to continue.

“What happens when you die, human?”

“I don’t know, it’s not like there’s anyway to find out. I guess we just kind of… die,” said Ruben, not really ever thinking about death.

“I am surprised, human,” said Biozard, “How can you have such great courage in battle, and sacrifice yourself so greatly, and not have a bit of knowledge of where you go when you die, who looks after you.”

Ruben again was speechless.

“Please, listen here; there is two places for you after death. But that doesn’t matter now, what matters is your purpose,” said Rebuz.

“My purpose?” asked Ruben.

“Yes, everyone has a purpose,” replied Biozard.

“Then, what’s mine? How do I complete it?” asked Ruben.

“That is not the questions, human,” stated Rebuz, “For it is not up to you what your call is, nor when and how you complete it, it is your call, however, how much you’re willing to give up, sacrifice, for you to complete it; whether the cost be great, or nothing at all.”

Ruben was silent; he looked back, back toward where they had left all their dead comrades. He knew he wouldn’t see them, but he thought about how lucky they were. They didn’t have to trek through this darkness, worrying about earthly things. All he saw behind him was his team. Leroy, who was staring jittery around into the darkness, Clara, who was deeply talking with Frank, Sergeant McCoy, he seemed to stare into nothingness, possibly thinking about him, and how to kill him. His father seemed to be idly watching him out of the corner of his eye. Ruben thought, he had heard many sayings about death; but none had touched him as Rebuz’s did. He had heard “It’s not what you take when you leave, it’s what you leave behind when you go,” which had made him think, now, about all his friends and family, one family, that he could leave behind when he went. With all the new thoughts of death spurring in his mind, he began to fear. Fear death.

He realized that he had started plummeting to this, and he shook his head and changed his thoughts. He couldn’t believe he couldn’t find anything more interesting to talk about when he was on his first mission, which had gone totally wrong, under ground in an ancient alien cavern infested with Gilgathons and was being led to a mission that could ultimately save the human race by three advanced alien warriors with a mismatched group of Rebels and L.E.W.

He was torn from his own little world and back into reality by a large roar from something deep in the caverns. He looked around, his father and Sergeant McCoy had already kneeled, firearms at the ready, and Leroy was on his stomach on the ground, his hands over his head.

“Oh God, we’re screwed. We’re dead! We’re dead, we’re dead, we’re D,E,A,D!” started Leroy.

“Cork it, Quivers,” barked Sergeant McCoy, “If we were dead you wouldn’t be pissin’ your pants right now.”

“Hey,” said Leroy, but he had an uneasy glance down at his pants and scowled a bit, but stayed on the ground.

“What is it?” whispered Frank.

“Lurker,” said Clara.

“The beast stands no chance against us,” said Rebuz.

“Have you ever even fought a Lurker before?” asked Ruben, who had heard of the giant beasts that haunt the dreams of the soldiers on the front lines, and the lives of the survivors from an attack.

“Not in my time, these ‘Lurkers’ are just another infestation we will deal with,” said Rebuz, and he nodded, the other two running off down one corridor, Rebuz slowly following.

“Humans, run down that corridor, wait for us, we will find you. The exit is that way, though. Make your way toward it,” yelled Rebuz, then he took off at an amazing speed to catch up with the others.

Ruben watched him go, feeling naked without their protection. He heard Sergeant McCoy make a scoffing noise and get up from his knee. Leroy also made an effort to rise.

“That greenhorn doesn’t know didley squat. I took down a Lurker once,” said Sergeant McCoy.

“Please…” moaned Clara.

“All Lurker take downs are recorded because there are so few,” said Frank, as if in Clara’s defense.

“It’s classified,” shot back Sergeant McCoy, “but I did do it. The problem is I had about twelve rockets and a M7-K8 Rocket Launcher.”

“Well, looks like we’re a little short on rocket launchers, Sergeant,” said Captain Onyx, “so it looks like we’ll have to lie low.”

“B-but what if that thing finds us?” asked Leroy.

“It’s been hunting us for a while already,” said Captain Onyx.

“Yeah, they’re big, but blind,” chimed in the Sergeant.

“But they’ll smell ya, and they can hear you breathing,” started Clara.

Ruben could of swore he saw Leroy take in a breathe and hold it, but he had no time to say anything as another roar was heard. Captain Onyx walked toward the direction Rebuz told them to go, half pushing Leroy down the corridor. Ruben felt himself get pushed along a bit by Sergeant McCoy, who had a bit of sweat glistening his brow, and Ruben sped up his pace to catch up with his father. Ruben strained his ears to hear the sounds of a battle, but he heard no such thing. All he could do was look forward and presume they were alone now, like a bad memory, swiped away. He concentrated on keeping the walls and ceiling watched and his ears open for any sound remotely Gilgathon.


Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:15 pm
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Another Episode, a couple new things to learn...

Chapter 11
Surrender is Not an Option



Rebuz listened around him, there seemed to be nothing but the footsteps of his companions. Then he heard it, the growl of beast. They were being hunted, but who was who? As they were looking for the beast, but at the same time being hunted by it, which was the hunter and which the prey?

Then Rebuz was stopped by Elrond, who walked in front of him and looked into his visor. Elrond opened his visor, exposing his face. Rebuz was almost confused, and he did the same.

“Now, with the humans gone,” said Elrond, “I must ask you, why?”

“Explain,” questioned Rebuz.

“Why take the risk? Not only did you expose us to the humans, but to the beasts. We also saved the humans, and are in the process of risking our lives to do it the again,” asked Elrond.

“Elrond, please, the question is why not?”

“You know as well as I the code still stands. You have bordered the line of treason, even heresy, by exposing yourself to human eyes and human ears. You also shared our sacred mission with them,” exclaimed Elrond.

“I agree,” chimed Biozard, “Why risk it? We have already lost one of our own. Let us leave the primates behind.”

“No,” said Rebuz, “Surely we lost one, and my heart is wrecked with grief, but we have gained more comrades through the exchange. Akeel will not have died in vein.”

“Ha, you compare the humans with Zul’ Nugul?” scoffed Elrond, “The humans have no use to us, or our mission. Our mission is suicide as it is; now we have to heft extra baggage and take unnecessary risks.”

Rebuz felt taken back, he knew they spoke some truth, but he still believed the humans would serve their purpose.

“Besides, the humans would be of little use to us, they would all surely die before the reached the temple grounds,” chimed Biozard, again.

He had said exactly what Rebuz wanted.

“Then what’s the problem?” asked Rebuz, looking into Elrond’s eyes, “If they will not live to tell their tale then why give up extra, willing firepower?”

Elrond had nothing to say, he just shook his head lightly, and Biozard said nothing.

Rebuz lowered his voice, adding, “Their race rests on the effects of this mission just as much as ours, Coinshack. Do you not think they deserve a chance to save it?”

Elrond sighed, saying, “Fine, Tork, you’re word is law; but I still question why we risk our lives so.”

Rebuz walked passed Elrond, lowering his visor. He had heard another light roar. The beast was getting closer. He turned slightly to his comrades, pointing down the dark corridor.

“Do you not think three highly trained Zul’ Nugul can take down the great beast?” he asked, in a taunting tone.

Elrond nodded, and closed his visor again, and they were off.


Rebuz looked up and down the corridor. Where could they be? He thought. He had sent Biozard and Elrond to set up for the plan. They had been gone longer then he had expected.

Then he heard it again, it was a blood churning roar again, this one really close. When it died down, he realized he also could here boot steps. He aimed his rifle toward the sounds, he saw Biozard running toward him.

“Biozard, are you ready in position?” he asked quickly, “Where’s Elrond?”

“Run!” was all Biozard could yell, as Rebuz realized he was being chased.

Rebuz expected for it to be a pack of drones, but no. The creature was large, very large. It easily filled the corridor by itself, and seemed to have a hard time making its way through. It was long, seemed almost worm like. It appeared to have hard skin, but more like a soft exoskeleton. It had six long legs, surprisingly boney for the size of its body. They ended in three large claws that easily spread to the size of a Zul’ Nugul. Its head had no neck, and melded in with its body. It seemed to have large plates that covered the areas eyes would be, and it had no ear sockets. It had two slots for a nose right above its monstrous jaw. It was lined with two rows of sharp, jagged teeth, some chipped. It was seeping some sort of saliva-like liquid and it had a tongue about the length of one of its claws. The creature was a dark brown in color, and currently chased Biozard toward Rebuz.

Rebuz could only think of one thing to do. He raised his rifle and fired a few shots at the beast. The rounds pinged harmlessly off its hard skin. The creature let out a terrifying roar and charged. At this, Rebuz immediately realized that that wasn’t going to work, and he turned around and ran just in time for Biozard to catch up.

“This must be the beast the humans labeled a ‘Lurker’,” yelled Biozard.

“What’s going on? Where’s Elrond?” yelled Rebuz.

“He awaits action, we must lead the beast to him as planned,” said Biozard.

Rebuz chanced a backwards glance, in time to see some shredder rounds come zinging at them. To avoid being struck, he pushed Biozard toward the wall and moved to the opposite one, the rounds hitting the ground. Rebuz looked back, he saw a Gilgamite Drone on the back of the beast, firing shots off at the Zul’ Nugul.

Rebuz quickly summed a plan in his head; he needed to find a way to take out that Drone before they get hit and loss speed. He turned to Biozard.

“I need you to distract the beast,” he yelled, “discharge your weapon at him, use plasma rounds when you reload. Projectiles won’t pass its shell.”

With that, he pressed his back to the wall and stopped running. Biozard immediately turned and fired his rifle, the projectile round pinging off its shell. The creature growled loudly again and sped up to catch Biozard. The distraction worked, the creature had barely passed Rebuz when Rebuz grabbed a hold of one of its legs and was hoisted into the air.

When the leg was positioned over its body, Rebuz flung himself, onto the creature’s back. He looked toward the head, now off balanced by the moving body. The Drone was just starting to turn around to see where Rebuz had landed before Rebuz put a few rounds into its head. The creature fell back, underneath the giant creature’s path of destruction. Rebuz turned in time to see four more Drones toward the back, taking aim at him. Rebuz aimed and emptied his clip in their direction, killing two of them and wounding another enough for him to fall off the rampaging beast.

The fourth started firing at Rebuz. Rebuz heard the bullets wiz past him and ping off his armor. He quickly loaded a plasma clip into his gun and aimed it at the Drone, needing only one shot to melt the creature’s face.

Rebuz turned in time to see that Biozard had gotten closer to the beast. The creature roared and its tongue lashed out and knocked Biozard forward, his rifle knocked from his hand. Rebuz gasped as he saw his comrade fall to the ground, unguarded against his attacker. Biozard slid a few, then hopped up and turned to the beast. The creature had stopped a bit, and let out another roar as it readied its claws for a final blow.

Biozard ejected the small plasma blaster out of his left hand. He shot a few bolts at the creature, then turned and continued running. The creature took a wild swing at him but missed, barely. Rebuz took this time to aim his rifle downward, toward the beast’s body. He fired a few plasma bolts into its shell, the hot bolts easily cutting through the skin, but it barely affected the rampaging beast. Rebuz looked around, trying to find some sort of answer that wasn’t there.

A group of Drones caught his eye. They were boarding the beast, climbing by it’s back end. Rebuz looked around, he had to think quickly. He saw Biozard, running and firing random plasma shots at the beast, who resumed chasing him. Rebuz aimed his rifle back toward the Drones; there was nothing else he could do now. He fired off a bunch of shots, emptying his clip.

Some fell off the beast, plasma burns scorching their hands and through their faces; but there was a number who made it on top. Several of this aimed their guns at him, but none fired. One of the ones who had made it up gave a hardy growl, and the others and he pulled out what seemed to be large bone knives. They hitched two of these at the end of their rifles, making bayonets. They then walked slowly in his direction.

These Gilgamites are much smarter, thought Rebuz. He felt the creature turn, as if going down a separate corridor. He held on through the turn the turned to look at where they were now heading. He saw Biozard, running as he had been trying desperately to escape the beast. There was the long corridor that this installation seemed to favor so much. At what seemed to be the end of the corridor was a figure, standing fearlessly in the middle of the hall.

Rebuz increased his magnification on his visor, expecting to see some form of Gilgamite awaiting Biozard. Instead, he saw Elrond, standing at the ready. Rebuz had almost forgotten about him for a second. What are you doing? thought Rebuz. He then noticed what Elrond was holding.

The Particle Canon.

The two mandibles like objects at the end of the cylindrical tube were twirling around at a fast speed, and Elrond held the canon at the ready. Ruben understood what he was going to do, and couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“Get down!” Elrond yelled.

Rebuz saw Biozard hesitate a bit, and then he dived. Rebuz then realized what was going on; he looked around to find a way to get off the beast. He looked up, realizing that he was close enough to the ceiling to try and jump for the “rafters”. Rebuz looked, and saw the Particle Canon charging up, a red dot starting to form at its tip. Rebuz looked, and realized he had no time to decided or calculate. He mustered all his energy and jumped for the rafters.

He could hear the sound of a roar from both the giant creature and one of the Drones as the sound of the Gilgamite rifles starting to fire at him. Biozard had barely reached the ark of his dive when an orange-yellow beam of energy shot from the Particle Canon Elrond was holding. The beam barely missed Biozard as it soared over him. Rebuz reached with all his might for the rafter, he was almost there. The creature let out one last roar as the beam entered his mouth, and seemed to have been absorbed by the creature.

The creature’s body glowed a bit, and an explosion was heard inside. The beam stopped coming out of the canon, and the last reminisces disappeared. The creatures head seemed to melt at once, and the insides exploded. It’s newly made, burnt hole in its mouth spewed some blood, and the creature crashed to the ground, dead.

Rebuz touched the rafters, but his jump just wasn’t enough. His hand slipped and he fell back down to the creature’s carcass. He landed on it’s now soggy head, which acted as a cushion for the landing.

Rebuz rose, his rifle at the ready. The creature was definably dead. He looked around; dust and smoke still covered the area. Coming out of the smoke, Elrond still held the Particle Canon at the ready. Rebuz looked around, and then allowed himself to loosen up. He walked up to Elrond in relief.

“Good work, Zul’ Nugul,” said Rebuz, patting him on the shoulder pad.

“Not quite to plan, but the young one wouldn’t listen,” said Elrond, and as he examined his kill he added, “Not a bad shot, wouldn’t you say, Tork?”

“Where is Biozard?” asked Rebuz.

“Here.”

One of the creature’s claws nearby moved a bit, and Biozard lifted it off him and threw it aside. He brushed off some of the gore and walked up to the other two.

“Looks like luck is on our side,” Biozard commented.

“Luck is a human creation, Biozard,” said Rebuz, “But if there is any luck, you are a prime example.”

Rebuz walked up to him and hooked his Twilight Sword to the back of his suit. He crossed his arms a bit, shaking his head inside his helmet at Biozard.

“You lost your most important tool on the battle field, Biozard. Your Twilight Sword,” said Rebuz.

Biozard sighed a bit as Elrond walked up, stowing the Particle Beam next to his own Twilight Sword. Rebuz nodded toward the way they had come and began walking to it.

“Come on, Coinshack, we must go retrieve it before meeting up with the humans,” said Rebuz, then he turned and added, “Not much lost, wouldn’t you say Elrond?”

Elrond shook his head and followed, with Biozard close behind.


Another roar seemed to have shaken the cavern. Dust shook off the rafter like stone “bridges” above them. Ruben brushed some of the dirt out of his hair, and placed his trainees cap back on. He should have grabbed a helmet, but at least the cap made him think of his friends back home. How long had they been gone?

“Stay close,” barked Sergeant McCoy, aiming the order more toward Leroy, who had fallen behind watching the rafters more then the group.

He looked ahead, noticed he had fallen behind, and trotted back up toward the group. He shot the Sergeant an angry glance then returned his attention to the rafters. Captain Onyx never removed his eyes from the path ahead. He kept sweeping his gun and its light across the path looking for anything even remotely dangerous. Clara did the same; instead no beam of light followed her sweeping.

Another roar shook the corridor; Ruben felt a chill run down his spin.

“Almost there, just keep going. You’ll need to turn an immediate left whenever you can, you should be able to follow that passage out, there seems to be some sort of exit that way,” chatted Dex over the com.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” questioned Leroy.

“Listen, all I got is what I got, ok? I can’t give many details.”

“Quiet,” said the Captain, “something’s coming.”

With that, he shut off his flashlight, and fell into darkness. Ruben paused for a second, and then did the same. Sergeant McCoy shut his off next, followed closely by Frank. Leroy was the last. He was very reluctant, but when he received a small jab by the sergeant, he cut the power of his rifle.

They fell into silence. No one moved or made a sound in the dark. Then, there was a small clank. Ruben heard it first, he didn’t know how his father had heard it, but it was ever so slight in the silence. It grew in volume, turning into a slight rumble and clanking drone of sound.

Rubin felt a pull on his shoulder and he followed it to the sides of the corridor. The pull changed direction, slightly dragging him downward. He knelt, as the rumble clearly turned into the growling chatter of Gilgathon Drones. A passage up ahead and to the left began to be outlined with an eerie red light. The sound of chains was heard, and the snarling and grunting of Drones.

Ruben’s heart skipped a beat when the first came into sight. It didn’t seem to notice them much, and didn’t seem to hear Leroy’s gasp of fear over the jittering of its pack mates. The others came in, followed by a crab like creature unseen by the Hand of God before. The creature was round, yet very flat. It had 5 long legs that were evenly spaced. On the legs there were thick hairs that flexed as though tiny fingers or insects feelers. It had a hole in the middle of its body, like a donut would, where a giant, slimy, red crystal sat as a candle would on a candle stick. The crystal produced a slightly dim red light, which illuminated the members of the party.

Following up behind it were three Drones carrying thick chains that rattled and clanked. These chains led up to a collar fastened to a beast unseen by Ruben. It was huge, easily another 3 feet over a Drone, and easily 5-6 feet over an average man. Its legs and arms were as thick as tree trunks, and its body large enough to be considered vehicular size. It looked much like a Drone on steroids. It was hunched over more, and its lower jaw stuck out, revealing a row of fangs three inches long. Its eyes were hard to spot, very beady compared to a humans, but its snout like nose more then made up for it. It had a row of small spines running the line of its back, disappearing before the spine curled into a rough little tail. The creature only ever so growled here and there.

The lead Drone stopped abruptly and sniffed. It held up its claw in a fist, and the others stopped and quieted themselves. The lead creature sniffed again, and the others followed, started to sniff around, and eventually they all were looking in Ruben’s directing. Ruben began to tense, and held his rifle tighter, preparing for anything.

Then another roar rang out, and a faint explosion with it. The Drones stared off past Ruben and down the hallway where it came from. On of the Drones gave out a gruff, huff-like chuckle and growled something at the others. They joined him in a series of snorts and gruff chuckles and they continued down the hall, going off to Ruben’s right. The larger creature kept looking and sniffing, and bared his fangs and prepared to roar. One of the Drones gave his chain a short tug and the giant beast was pulled out of his fit and followed the pack.

They continued on there way, bringing the light with them. Ruben decided to chance a look around while he could see. He was on the right side of the corridor, kneeling with Sergeant McCoy and Frank. On the other side, Captain Onyx was pressed against the wall and Clara covered Leroy’s eyes and held his mouth. They all soon disappeared back into the darkness, and Ruben again began to wait.

It felt like hours, but really a matter of minutes passed before a whistle was heard. Captain Onyx turned on his flashlight again and swung it around.

“Sound off,” he whispered.

Ruben noticed that Clara had skipped ahead and was watching the corridor the Gilgathons with her night vision scope. The Sergeant and Frank also turned on their flashlights and swept it before answering.

“I’m fine,” said the Sergeant.

“I think I soiled myself I think,” murmured Frank.

“You’ll live,” said Clara from her spot.

Ruben clicked on his flashlight and nodded to no one in particular, and Leroy put on his light, too.

“What the hell was that… that… thing!” he stammered.

“They were dubbed “Gilgathors”, for reasons unneeded to say, after the attempt recapture of the temple,” said Sergeant McCoy.

“Dangerous?” asked the Captain, but he already knew the answer.

“Up close,” replied the Sergeant, “they can rip you apart without even trying, and did a number on our vehicles. They have these giant axe-like weapons they swing around, but they are
just as deadly without it.”

Captain Onyx nodded, and continued down the hall. He patted Clara on the shoulder and turned left. Ruben was quick to follow him, and the others followed. They were all careful not to point their beams of light down the corridor, and they were careful not to stumble upon any stragglers of the Gilgathon pack. They walked down the corridor a ways. Ruben was about to say something, when a gasp was heard from someone. Ruben looked ahead, and squinted his eyes. At first he didn’t see anything, and then he saw it.

The faint, gleaming of sunlight…


Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:01 pm
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Thrown at you in a hurry, here's the next installment. Enjoy!

Chapter 12
Paths Parted



It was another two minutes before Ruben actually saw the exit. He, along with Leroy and Frank, ran ahead of the group. Ruben heard his dad say something, but he let it slide off his conscience as he ran into the sun and fresh air. His eyes hurt so much from the bright light that no matter how much he tried his muscles wouldn’t let him open his eyes until they had adjusted. He fell to his knees and listened to Leroy and Franks cheers and signing as they danced around outside.

Captain Onyx came up behind Ruben, placing his hand on his shoulder. Ruben had his sight recover by then, and was able to take in his surroundings. It appeared that they were in an open, dessert like area. The cave entrance they had came from seemed to have been a collapsed roof, the debris forming a type of ramp in. Around was flat land that ended in some sort of cliff. Rubble and rock piles of some sort also littered the area. Large crevasses were seen in the distance, with smaller ones closer. There was a series of cliffs and flat platforms around; some sort of ruins of an ancient building was seen in the distance. Pillars and remains of some rafters were noted by Ruben. Farther out, there was a large, flat dessert area that stretched for some time.

Clara, who had slightly joined in the celebration of Leroy and Frank and had been jumping and hugging Frank, soon calmed them down enough to listen to Captain Onyx.

“Dex, we’re out and ready for evac,” exclaimed the Captain.

“Negative, we’re quiet busy here. You’ll have to thumb your own way home,” answered Dex from the com, “make it quick, we’re gonna need all the help we can get!”

The Captain gave a quizzed look toward the others, and then nodded.

“Fair enough,” he commented.

“What the hell are we supposed to do?” questioned Frank, almost angrily, “I suppose your friends won’t like us and I’m sure we’re not going to get a ride from them or last by ourselves out here!”

“We’re above ground now,” said the Captain, “You should be able to phone for a pickup and go on with your life.”

“Yeah, hopefully not meeting on the battlefield,” said Clara, swiping a hair behind her ear.

“I’m way ahead of you captain,” boomed the Sergeant, as the engines of two L.E.W. Transports were heard in the distance, closing fast.

They passed, overhead, and then circled a bit above. Captain Onyx looked confused, and looked questionably at the Sergeant. Leroy had raised his gun, pointing at the transports, and an angry face formed. The Sergeant slowly raised his Shotgun and aimed it at the Captain.

“I’m sorry, CP, but now I have to do my job,” said the Sergeant.

Frank looked confused for a bit, and then raised his own gun. A cold look covered Clara’s face, and Ruben felt a spot of anger rise in him. They had been betrayed with people they had been allies with only a moment ago.

“Sorry,” said the Sergeant as one of the Transports began to slow above them.

“Yeah,” mumbled the Captain,” only doing your duty.”

The Sergeant nodded slightly, then the Captain said, “Then you’ll understand.”

Quick as lightning, Captain Onyx raised the butt of his gun into the Sergeant’s chin, raising him into the air slightly and knocking him back into the sand. Frank stood, surprised for a bit, as Clara said, “sorry” and slammed her rifle butt into his head, knocking him out cold.

“Run!” yelled Captain Onyx as he took off in the opposite direction then the cave’s opening.

Ruben and Leroy were quick to follow, and quickly were in step behind Clara. They heard the release of the rapid deployment pods and the crack of rifles behind them. The area around them began to put-a-put as a shower of bullets passed by them.

Sergeant McCoy opened his eyes, one of the soldiers were standing over him.

“You ok, Sergeant?” he asked.

The Sergeant got up and shook his head, an ache filled his brain and he winced. He nodded to the soldier and looked around. The rapid deployment soldiers were firing at the Rebels as they ran.

“I’ll get ‘em” said a soldier beside the Sergeant as he raised his sniper rifle and took aim.

The Sergeant looked around a moment, and then pretended to stumble a bit, bumping into the sniper, moving his aim as a load crack rang from the barrel. The shot was a close miss, whizzing by the Captain’s ear.

The soldier looked at the Sergeant and whined, “Sarge, you trashed my shot.”

“Sorry,” was all the Sergeant could muster.

“You alright sir?” asked the other soldier again.

“I’m fine, the boy’s out cold,” said the sergeant.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get them,” said the Soldier, “Those Hogs will pay for betraying you, even after you lead them out of the caverns!”

All the Sergeant did was grunt as the soldier gave the order to move.

“Wait,” he finally said, “It’s too dangerous, let them go. I have important information for command.”

“That means so do they, we can’t let them go,” argued the soldier.

“I’ll get them.”

The voice came from a pod that was late to drop. On it was a tough soldier; it had the dessert fatigues under the standard Blue and Silver battle armor of the L.E.W., a mask over his mouth and nose, large muscles, two M1-7 SMGs strapped to his thighs, and a M8-7 assault rifle strapped to his back. He un-mounted the pod and walked toward the edge of the transport. The side opened and a crane lowered a small bike-like surveillance craft.

The soldier hoped aboard this bike and started its motor. He stared off where the group had just disappeared over a small hill and hit the accelerator. He tore off, leaving sand and dust behind.

The Sergeant just stared, and only stammered, “Is that a…”

“Yep,” said one of the soldiers beside him, placing Frank on one of the pods, “We finally got one for this mission, looks like it was a good idea.”


Ruben felt out of breath, he slid down the short decline in the sand and followed his father into a runway like road, lined with pillars. He didn’t feel very tired, but he knew he should be by the way Leroy and Clara panted for breath. That’s when he heard it, a slight hum of an engine, then the blast of an accelerator. He turned his head and gasped. He saw it before he could act, some sort of motor bike riding right for them.

It was thicker then most motor bikes, a thin layer of armor covering it. It seemed to have some sort of gun turret on it, though it wasn’t being used. The front tire was thick, and protected. Its rider, a muscular man with a mask, accelerated again, heading straight for them.

“Lookout!” was all Ruben had time to scream.

He pushed Leroy aside, out of the path of the motor bike, and Clara dived in his direction, too. Ruben and Captain Onyx dived the other way, as the bike came roaring past them.

Ruben stood, preparing to raise his rifle, but saw the bike turn suddenly and start heading back they’re way. Clara helped Leroy up, and they headed off the side into ruins of some sort of tunnel.

“This way,” she yelled, “We can elude him in here.”

“Go,” said Ruben’s dad, “I’ll hold him off.”

Ruben instead helped his father up and pushed him to the opening.

“Nice try, we’re going together.”

The Bikes motor roared as its accelerator was slammed again. Ruben only had time to push his father forward and dive backwards, barely missing the speeding vehicle. Ruben’s dad got up and headed to the closest pillar, taking cover.

Ruben stood and aimed his rifle; he saw the back tire before the biker could turn. He pulled his trigger, letting a burst of five rounds shred the back tire. The tire explosively blew, causing the bike to sink back.

Ruben was about to smile when the bike completed its turn and accelerated toward him again. What? He thought, Front wheeled drive?

Ruben didn’t have time to think after that because the turret at the front of the bike began to flash, rocketing bullets at Ruben. Ruben dived for cover, behind a pillar on the opposite side. When he went to stand, he felt the sand beneath him shift and he slid off the back down a short cliff, landing on the sand below.

“Ruben!” Captain Onyx yelled but his cries were short lived as the biker road his machine off the cliff, and landed down near Ruben.

Ruben stood and sprinted toward the end of this small cliff and jumped down into yet another ruin. He took cover at a pillar in time for the biker to jump off the side after him. The biker flung himself from his vehicle and landed in the sand a few meters away from Ruben’s cover. Before his bike even had time to crash into one of the stone pillars, knocking it over, the biker was on his feet running to cover like lightning.

Ruben barely got his rifle leveled and started shooting when he reached cover a ways down the row. Ruben let his assault rifle get a few shots off before he retreated to his cover in time for a volley of bullets to shriek past his head. The shots sounded more like a rat-a-tat-tat, really short and faster then Ruben’s assault rifle. Ruben risked a glance, and noticed the assailant had drawn two SMGs from side holsters. He was making his way to the opposite row firing with the duel guns firing like mad. Obviously trying to flank me, thought Ruben.

Without delay, Ruben spun to another side of his pillar, blocking the assailant’s chance of catching him unguarded from another angle. He rounded the corner and fired at the unprotected attacker. The attacker ducked, allowing Ruben’s bullets to fly overhead as he ran the rest of the way to his cover. As he was about to dive behind a pillar, the attacker fired both SMGs again, and a click was heard indicating he had spent all his bullets.

With that, Ruben decided to check his clip, with less then a quarter ammo left, he spent the rest of them firing at his position then switched magazines. In the short pause, Ruben could hear the slight thunk of two SMG magazines hitting sand, and the sound of two fresh clips being inserted into the chambers.

Ruben leaned out, trying to get a sight on the attacker before he had a chance to relocate. The attacker was already leaned, and he let another barrage fly out of both guns. Ruben again, ducked behind cover, and listening to the crunch and pings of the bullets hitting the stone.

Then Ruben felt the pillar shift, and dust sprinkled on his trainees cap. Ruben looked up in time to see the top half of the pillar split from the bottom and pieces began to fall down at Ruben. The slicing of the bullets on the pillar must have weakened it, and cracked the base, which un-evened the top, causing it to collapse.

Ruben dived out of the way as large pieces slammed into the sand. Ruben immediately rolled and stood, sprinting to the next pillar. He barely heard the whiz of the bullets as they desperately tried to follow him, but he slid into cover and heard the pinging of the bullets on stone.

Apparently, the falling of the pillar gave the assailant an idea. Ruben heard the click of a grenade pin as the biker leaned out and tossed a grenade at Ruben’s cover. Ruben was quick to respond, leaping at the grenade and catching it. He rolled and threw it back at the biker, who barely jumped out of the way before it exploded, collapsing his pillar.

Ruben took this time to aim and fire at the biker, who was forced to dash to a new pillar. Before he made it, Ruben hit his left arm, causing him to drop one of his SMGs and dive behind another pillar.

Ruben waited, and heard the click of another grenade pin. This time, a three second pause endured, and then the biker threw the grenade. Clever dude, thought Ruben as he dived just barely out of the way when the biker’s grenade exploded upon reaching Ruben’s location, knocking down the pillar.

Now it was the bikers turn. Ruben sprinted for new cover as bullets from an assault rifle whizzed passed Ruben. Ruben ducked as a burst whizzed over his head then he started weaving for the bullets to miss before he dived behind another pillar. The pings of the bullets and the crumbling of the pillar once again rang in his ears. Ruben leaned against the pillar and hung his rifle around the corner. He blindly fired a few shots and emptied his already heavily spent clip.

As the inserted the new clip, Ruben coughed away the dust, now coating the air around the newly created battlefield. Ruben heard the click of a clip being inserted across the field and he leaned out and leveled his rifle, ready to shoot. He cleared the pillar just as the Biker did, and they both began shooting. Ruben didn’t get hit, but he couldn’t hit anything from the constant spray of gravel and dust from the impact of the bikers bullets on the pillar.

Since he wasn’t getting hit, he guessed the biker was having similar problems. So Ruben kept shooting, in what felt like forever. He finally felt the relief of an empty clip. Heard the familiar click of his opponents, so Ruben dropped the old clip and went to grab a new one. He felt around his armor, but didn’t find anything. Crap, he thought. He was out of ammo.

He heard the slap of his opponent’s clip and he dropped his gun. Ruben was trying to think fast. The Biker began to shoot again, but a stopped when another click was heard. Ruben could barley make out the sound of the biker as he slammed the gun and its clip. Jammed.

Ruben risked a peak around the Pillar. He saw the Biker fumbling with the rifle, then look up and curse. The biker threw down his rifle, and then started to sprint toward Ruben. Ruben threw down his own rifle, and then grabbed a combat knife strapped to his calf and prepared for hand-to-hand combat. The biker then stuck out his arm, and a pair of daggers ejected from somewhere in his suit’s cuffs. They looked menacing, like the ancient Japanese “Tiger Claws” of Earth. Ruben was surprised to see just one pair, but as the Biker drew closer he stuck out his other arm and another pair ejected. Crap, thought Ruben.

As the biker ran at Ruben, preparing to run him through with the blades, Ruben braced himself. When the biker neared and sort-of lunged at Ruben, Ruben dived backward, grabbing the biker’s hands and tossing him over his body. Ruben rolled and recovered, standing to turn the biker. Unfortunately for him, the biker landed, rolled, and also turned ready to fight. This time, the biker did not lunge, but come at Ruben, swinging his blades.

At the first swing, Ruben ducked as the blades passed over head. With his other hand, the biker thrusts his blades at Ruben. Ruben swung downward with his left hand, deflecting the thrust, and then tries to stab the biker. The biker also deflected the stab, and tries another slash. Ruben moved his head slightly as the blade passed by, then he deflected another slash from the attackers other swing. Ruben had to think fast!

Remembering a similar situation during physical combat training, Ruben pushed away slightly then dropped to the floor and swung his leg at the attacker’s ankles. The biker seemed to have also been a fast thinker, for he jumped and Ruben’s attack missed. Ruben thought again and spun, allowing his legs to come back a second time. The attacker landed, and didn’t have time to react to the second swing. Ruben’s attack swung his legs out from under him and the attacker fell backward onto his back. Ruben rolled forward, onto the attacker, and thrust hard into his chest armor.

The knife went in, and the biker yelped, but it didn’t seem to affect him much. Ruben was shocked as the biker recovered and pushed Ruben off him with more force then he had ever felt. Ruben seemed to fly through the air and he hit the sand a yard away. Ruben looked up as the biker stood and pulled the knife from his chest. Little blood was on the knife, showing he had barley been stabbed.

With horror, Ruben watched as he tossed the knife aside and walked to Ruben, preparing to stab at Ruben. Ruben tried to back up, and as he did his hand landed on the SMG the biker had dropped earlier. Ruben picked it up, not much ammo, and looked at the biker.

Ruben noticed that passed the bikers head was a small trail of smoke. Ruben gazed pass the biker, who was closing in, and noticed the biker’s biker, overturned and crashed. The fuel tank was in sight, and the biker was close to the bike. Ruben aimed passed the biker and opened up the last burst. It hit the tank and ignited the fuel.

The bike exploded, and the biker felt the force of some of the blast. He was pushed away, as Ruben dropped the SMG and rolled to the side. He got up and ran for a cliff. Ruben peered inside, and saw that it was the side of a small canyon, which seemed to deepen as it went on. Ruben didn’t even bother looking back as he leapt into the small canyon.

When he hit the sand, he just took off as fast as he could down the canyon. He could here the burning of the bike, and the crumbling of some of the pillars, but he didn’t care much to hear anything else as he ran down deeper, trying to escape his attacker.

Who is this guy? Thought Ruben.


The explosion shook The Road as the high explosive round slammed, hard, into the wall. The second shell hadn’t made it through the opening, and the explosion shook the board Uri knelt on. Uri could hear another M-48 start shooting again, which signaled that the chain gun had not been hit. Screams and calls could be heard from The Road below, as emergency medical personal mixed with replacement soldiers for the lost scrambled around.

The L.E.W. had, in fact, come back, but not with a very large force. The small attack force was trying to use their might and superior technology against the soldier trying desperately to hold The Wall. Keeping their infantry just out of range of the chain guns, they left the soldiers with M9-4 Battle Rifles to fire heavy resistance while their snipers picked off targets from afar. All the Hand of God soldiers could do was fire rapidly out into the landscape while the Battle Rifle or Sniper Rifle wielding soldiers tried to pick off targets.

Another unfortunate event for the Hand of God soldiers was the arrival of a L.E.W. Main Battle Tank. The MBT’s heavy rounds would have collapsed the fortresses heavy ceilings and walls if it had a barrage, but since there was only one MBT and it fired only every so often, the fortress stayed in tact. Two, smaller L.E.W. Light Battle Tanks were also present. Though not as strong, their rounds were smaller and they could shoot more precise. They were shooting all the time, also. So their rounds were pelting the wall behind Uri, over The Road.

These three would normally not be a problem, but since the Hand of God carried no ammunition for Anti Armor Weapons at this time, Uri had no choice but to keep his head down and not get hit buy a tank shell.

Uri looked up, brushing debris from his shoulders and head. Roger was picking some of his earlier ejected unused rounds from the floor and placing them into his half-empty clip. A burst was heard from Sergeant Malcolm’s Battle Rifle, and he ducked as a barrage of bullets whizzed through the opening.

“Got it!” yelled Private Arnold, as he ran the best he could toward them.

“What?” asked Uri.

“A makeshift grenade launcher,” said Sergeant Malcolm.

Sure enough, Arnold a somehow made a slingshot out of old metal piping, spent bullet casings, underwear, rubber bands, and a cooking pot. Uri thought it looked more like a suicide device, especially since they suggested putting grenades in it.

Arnold set it up, aiming down at a small rubble pile a squad of L.E.W. were using as cover. One of them had a Battle Rifle, which was firing up at The Wall. The Sergeant pulled the pin on a grenade and handed it to Arnold, who fastened into the contraption and pulled back as far as it would go. Before Uri could protest, Arnold released and the grenade went flying out into the battle field. It bounced of a rock and landed a little behind the rubble pile. The L.E.W. soldiers didn’t even notice it; had they did they would have easily survived if they tried to run. Because they didn’t, the grenade exploded, killing one and wounding the others.

Because of the wounds they received, many of the soldiers stumbled out of cover, or ran away from the area of the explosion, right into the firing path of the chain gun. The spray of bullets made short work of them. Those who could not run had severe wounds, which either bled out right there or bled out over time. In time, whoever could have been reached died on the medical stretcher or surgery table.

Uri let a hoot of victory escape his mouth as he saw the carnage one grenade had done. The Sergeant let a smirk fill his face, and he patted Arnold on the back. Arnold was unhappy, though.

“I wasn’t aiming for them, though,” he said, “I was aiming for the one way up there, if that’s only as far as this thing shoots then there’s no point trying again.”

Arnold moved the contraption to the side and leaned against the wall, next to Roger who had just finished picking up the shells and re-inserting the clip. Sergeant Malcolm crouched down and closed his eyes as another tank shell slammed into the wall. Uri let out a sigh.

“Now what?” asked Uri.

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” said Sergeant Malcolm.

“Why aren’t they making a huge effort?” asked Roger, “And where’s the rest of them?”

“I don’t know, why don’t ya ask them?” snapped Uri.

“I’ll do it,” said Arnold.

He rose slightly, held his rifle over the edge, and blind fired a bunch of bullets out into the battle. Then he ducked again.

“They say they just want their butts kicked, and they’re just waiting to surrender,” he replied.

Uri took in a breath. More gunfire broke loose, and the yells never seemed to stop from The Road. Uri’s thoughts went to his friend, Ruben, who he had heard nothing of.

“Drat!” he let escape.

The others didn’t seem to turn and look. Uri didn’t care; he still felt the need to continue.

“’ow can we sit here, shiverin’ in fear, while the true people in trouble are out there, fightin’ unknown odds?” he rambled, “How can I just sit here ‘n’ let my friend die out there.”

This is what made the others look up.

“As I said,” muttered Malcolm, “There’s nothing we can do.”

Uri felt the guilt well up inside him. He shook his head, he couldn’t settle for that answer.

“No,” he muttered, rising to a crouch and scuttling toward the latter, “there’s nothing you can do.”

Malcolm rose, only to crouch as a burst of bullets hit the wall and came through to hit the ceiling. Roger tried to speak, but no words left him.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” asked Malcolm.

“I’m goin’ ta do something about it,” said Uri, as he climbed down the latter.

“Hey, you can’t leave us here,” cried Arnold.

“I won’t, I’ll come back,” yelled Uri, not missing a rung, “an’ I’ll have help!”

Uri couldn’t hear the Sergeant’s cries of protest over the noise of war as he lowered. When he only had about five rungs left he jumped the rest of the way. When he landed he looked about. The Road was a scene of chaos.

Transportation LRVs were being used as makeshift Ambulances and the drove here and there; either leaving with wounded or arriving with what little reinforcements they had left, most of which were wounded soldiers well enough to fight again. Some Officers were yelling orders to soldiers and civilians alike. A scream was heard as a soldier was hit with a sniper round, he fell from The Wall and hit the ground.

It was now that Uri felt bad about abandoning his fellow soldiers, but his path had to be with helping find his friends. He saw a nearby LRV preparing for a hasty ride. Uri ran for it, and hopped on its tail bumper as it sped off. Then he heard a giant explosion, and screams and shoats filled The Road. The vibration of the explosion shook his bones and rattled the LRV. Over the LRV’s radio, Uri could here a voice start to speak.

“Attention all units, Warning, the chain gun is out. I repeat, we lost the chain gun section. A combined barrage from all the tanks took out its section. They’re going to be making a run for it. Brace yourself.”

Just as the voice stopped speaking, Uri heard a roar of voices and the clatter of a hundred rifles going off at the same time. Uri closed his eyes and said a silent prayer as a tear fell from his eye. He had left his friends at a time of need. He would never forgive himself if they died. Then he shook off the guilt, Ruben needed him.

He rode the speeding LRV for some time, deeper into the fortress. The civilians were also in a rush. Any and all who could wield a rifle were already serving, and now the sick, elderly, and young were being rushed to more safe locations. Uri watched the passages, until he saw it. The Intel Sector.

He jumped off and skidded to a stop. As the LRV rode off, he ran down the hallway, counting the doors. Then he saw it, a closed door toward the end of the hallway. Another tremor shook the walls and desks in the rooms.

Uri ran up to the door, and muscled it open. As he burst through he saw a good sized room. It was lined with desks filled with computers, external processors, paper of every sort, and a good weeks worth of trash of every kind. There was only one, dusty old computer chair, which was filled by Corporal Kings, and beside him General Swahili.

They both looked from what they were doing and stared, surprised, at Uri.

“Who are you?” asked the General, in a gruff tone, “and what do you want, make it quick!”

“P-Private Uri Tomlin, sir.” Said Uri, surprised to see the General.

“Private Tomlin… what’s your business here?” barked the General.

“Sir, I can explain,” said Corporal Kings.

“Dexter…” said the General, tiredly urging the corporal to continue.

“This is Private Onyx’s friend,” Dexter continued, “One of his only friends, sir.”

The General looked confused, and then turned to Uri again, eyeing his rifle.

“Why aren’t you at your post? Don’t they need more men on the wall?”

“Sir, news stopped coming of Captain Onyx’s mission,” said Uri.

“Oh, I wonder why, oh yes, maybe because a frigging war is happening out there!” barked the General.

“Sir, please,” said Uri, “I just want to know what’s up. I need to help him, I need to know.”

The General just shook his head, and then sighed deeply.

“Listen, Private, you want to help him? Protect this fortress, and everything he’s fighting for,” said the General, “These are tough times. We can’t sit around crying over a squad, no… not even a squad, of lost soldiers while everything we stand for is about to be destroyed!”

The General’s face showed the wear and stress of the past years long hidden, and his eyes showed deep compassion, but obvious annoyance. Uri understood coming here was irresponsible, but he had to know. He didn’t stand down, but he didn’t know what to say.

Corporal Dexter stepped in, “Look, I want to do as much as I can, too, but we can’t do anything more.”

There was another brief pause before Dexter continued, “They got out of the caverns two hours ago. Ruben’s fine. They’re on their way home.”

Uri felt his spirits rise. That bit of information was all he needed to feel a bit better. Then, the General had to ruin his good feelings.

“The sooner they get here the sooner they can help defend this fortress. We need all our wits to defeat the L.E.W.” he said, as two armored figures walked in.

They were Hand of God soldiers, dressed to the max with M9-4 Battle Rifles and a full belt of grenades. They saluted, something Uri had forgotten to do.

“Sir, the chain gun had fallen, and so have three more on The Wall. Their infantry are now able to move up, and heavy fighting has broken out the length of the wall,” said one of the soldiers.

“The Dessert Rat commander wants to know if you or the others wish to escape to Area-X and live to fight another day,” said the other.

The General gave them a disgusted look and pointed at them.

“Know this, while I still breath I will fight on for our cause. I will not leave my people, in any form.” He said, “Ask the others, I’m sure their answer will be as final as my own. As for you two, I need no body guards; I can shoot my own rifle to defend myself. If I am in danger of death then we will have surely lost any way. So gather others like yourselves and get to that wall.”

The General looked directly at Uri, half pointed, and said, “Take this man with you. You will return to your place,” and he looked at Dexter and said, “Dex, this information is classified.”

He emphasized classified by looking at Uri again, and he left the room, pushing by the two guards. Uri nodded toward Corporal Dexter, and followed the two soldiers back toward The Wall.


Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:13 pm
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Ok, it's been a while. Hopefully that means you've been reading up. PLEASE POST! Odds are if you're reading this now you've read some of the second book first because that one made a better first impression. Well, in that case, may it be awsome. Read on, bra, read on!

Chapter 13
Revealing



Ruben was clearly out of breath, as he leaned against the rocks. The sun had only barely started to go down, showing it was sometime in mid-afternoon. Ruben peaked around the corner, nothing. Ruben still didn’t know if the man was following him, but he wanted to make sure. He felt like the prey who had just narrowly escaped the hunter.

He edged out of his cover, a small hollowed place in the wall of the maze of walls in the small canyon. Ruben wanted to find clear open space, somewhere where his only good weapon, a Battle Rifle, could be used to its full extent. Ruben didn’t want to be caught in another bad situation.

Ruben rounded a corner, heading on in the direction he had been moving. He was hoping that eventually he would find his friends. He didn’t know how long it had been, but he had lost them in the attack. Ruben wondered what had happened to them. If they were looking for him, if they presumed him dead.

Then he heard something. He turned slightly and looked back the way he came. Nothing.

Ruben tried to slow his breathing, but he couldn’t help his heart start racing again. He listened, trying to hear the slightest whisp of anything again. It seemed like five minutes, but it was probably 30 seconds, when Ruben decided that he had heard nothing. He went to take a step back when he heard it again. Some rocks and dirt falling down the wall and hitting sand a few yards back where he had came.

Ruben thought a second, and then looked up. He was in time to see a figure jump the gap above him onto the other side. Ruben’s eyes widened, and he turned and ran.

He didn’t bother looking back, but he figured he could find somewhere to take him on. As he ran, he heard the sound of footsteps on stone from above. As he ran, he could here a thud in the sand behind him. Ruben kept running, fearing the man had dropped into the small canyon with him. Then a load BOOM shook the walls and sand. Ruben felt the heat on his back and the ping of debris off his armor. A Grenade.

Ruben kept running as fast as he could, he could not let this guy catch him. Ruben rounded a bend, and then saw an opening, a spot up ahead where the walls stopped and the canyon ended. Ruben’s spirits lifted, but only for a moment, as he sprinted toward the opening.

Ruben had just cleared the walls, running full blown into the now fading sun, when he felt a heavy force on his back. It pushed him to the ground, hard, and then rolled off him. Ruben had the wind knocked out of him, but he looked up in time to see that it had been the man, who had jumped off the ledge and onto Ruben’s back, forcing him down.

The man now wore no mask, showing his shiny, smoothly shaven double chin. He had no chest armor, and the cloths underneath were singed from the blast of the bike. He held no rifle, but an SMG and Mark VI strapped to his right thigh. His face was like stone, stuck in an angry glare.

He looked up, ejected his left wrist blades and moved toward Ruben. Ruben still tried to recover from his take down, and was still out of breath. Still, Ruben did his best to stand as fast as he could. The man swung his arm at Ruben, and Ruben did his best to step back, but he wasn’t fast enough. The blades came close to the chest, passed without damage, but cut Ruben’s right arm. It was right below his tattoo on his wrist, and crossed the other slash he had gotten. Some of his shirt had gotten cut off, too. Ruben felt his arm, he had cut deep. He grabbed the tattered cloth and wrapped it around his bleeding wrist. As he did, the man caught sight of his tattoo.

The man was about to do a finishing stab, but he stopped. His eyes starred at the tattoo. Ruben looked up, and watched him. The man retracted his wrist blades, and pulled off one of his gloves, his right one. He pulled back his suit to expose his right wrist, a tattoo of a Velociraptor shone in the setting sun.

“No,” the man said, “It… It cannot be.”

Ruben gasped, stuttering, “Oh… oh my gosh! You’re one of me! Or I’m one of you! Whatever. We’re like… oh!”

The man shook his head, saying, “but…. How? This cannot be. A… traitor?”

“No,” Ruben said, “Not a traitor. Listen, I got some questions for you. What am I… what are you? What’s this sign mean? Why am I different?”

The man shook off the questions, a confused look planted on his face.

Ruben’s sense of fear escaped him. He now found what he had been looking for his whole life, someone who had answers, and he wasn’t answering his questions. Ruben felt angered. He rose and showed the man his tattoo again.

“Why am I different!” Ruben yelled.

The man shook his head, “No, I-I cannot be interrogated. Eliminate the rebels, eliminate the traitor!”

With that, he ejected both his “tiger claw” like wrist blades and ran at Ruben again. Ruben barely had time to yell “No!” before he was forced into another fight with the man. Ruben deflected the man’s blades, and he grabbed the man and lifted him up, using his momentum to swing the man over him and throw him to the other side. The man rose, and let out a yell.

Ruben grabbed his Mark IV and aimed it at the man. He hesitated, only a second. Ruben took off the safety, and aimed at the man’s head.

A screech riveted through Rubens bones that halted him from firing. Ruben and the man’s eyes turned at the same time toward the source. In the sky, some sort of insect looking thing swooped down upon them.

It was definably insect-like, with its small body with an even smaller thorax, which looked more like a stubby tail. It had a big head, with two giant bulbous eyes. It had two mandibles, like a Praying Mantis back on old earth. It had six limbs; two appeared to be feet, with their longer appendages and talon like claws. The other four were definably hand-like, for they were a bit shorter but produced sharp claws that grasped forward. Ruben couldn’t see how many wings it had, for they were buzzing hard.

The creature let out another screech and dove toward them. In a split second, Ruben ducked out of the way. The man, however, had tried to take Ruben’s distract to his advantage, and had lunged forward to stab him. Missing Ruben, he stumbled and became off balanced. The creature swooped in and grabbed him, lifting him stubbornly into the air.

Ruben rolled and stood in time to see the man struggle as he was carried off a ways. The man slashed his claws at the creature’s wings, cutting the wings from the body. The creature screeched again, and dropped the man, who fell just short of a cliff and out of Ruben’s sight.

Ruben shook his head, swearing under his breath. He walked steadily over to the small cliff. As he drew near, he slowly raised his pistol again, and kept one eye on the sky in case any other of those creatures came back.

Ruben peered over the side, sweeping his eyes down the dessert below. Sure enough, he saw the body of the man down there, lying in the sand. Ruben watched for movement, and was rewarded with a twitch of the man’s boot, and then his whole body stirred. Ruben felt relieved that the man was not dead, but in a way he was disappointed. Now, Ruben had to figure out how to get down to him without risking serious injury.

Ruben decided to use some of the rope he had to scale halfway down, until he was in dropping distance. When he dropped down, he turned to see the man upright, clearly out of breath and his two wrist blades out and ready to strike.

“Come on,” said Ruben tiredly, “You’re half dead, I don’t want to fight you, yet you still consider killing me is the only way you’re getting out?”

The man only shook his head, but not in response but to clear his head from obvious dizziness. Ruben shook his head in disgust; he now had the upper hand. He wanted answers from this guy, but he knew he’d probably never give in.

Ruben was about to talk again when he noticed movement behind the man. When Ruben took a closer look, he saw that it was figures coming up from the sand. The figures stood, and let out a roar.

“Drones, Gilgathons!” yelled Ruben, and the man quickly turned and stared down the new threat.

Ruben didn’t know how he’d react, but he was relieved when the man mumbled, “Priority One: Eliminate all Gilgathon threat…”

The man took another, uneasy glance at Ruben, and then took off toward the Drones, who were now on an all out charge toward their position. Ruben thought a moment. This was his chance, he could escape, ending both his battle with the L.E.W. man and postponing his fight with the Gilgathons.

Ruben turned to run as the sounds of the battle began. As he walked away, he felt the guilt hit him, plus another barrage of questions. Who is he? What’s the tattoo mean? What’s this, Raptor? Who am I? Who am I…

The thought of never being answered consumed Ruben; he shook his head, thinking hard. Finally, he came to a decision. Un-strapping the Battle Rifle from his back, he turned and gazed down the scope. He saw a Drone run up to the back of the man and raise his gun as if to bash it into his skull. Ruben put the crosshair on the Drone’s head and shot a three round burst. The drone fell, dead.

Ruben started shooting more Gilgathons, dropping drones here and there. The man barely realized what was happening until Ruben helped take down a drone that he was struggling with. Then the man risked a glance back and saw Ruben firing.

The man then decided to let Ruben do all the work, and began running toward Ruben, with the Drones in hot pursuit. Ruben tried to shoot as many as he could, but he ran out of bullets and had to reload.

Then a load roar of a chain gun was heard and the man dropped and covered his head. Ruben ducked, too, not knowing where the noise was coming from. Other sounds of gunfire rang out from unknown places, but Ruben never saw the shooters, only the targets. The drones began to drop like flies. Their greenish blood spraying in the air and their screams and howls of pain could barely be heard over the gunfire. When the drones were all dead, the gunfire stopped, letting the sounds of battle echo off the cliffs and far off mountains. Ruben waited, not wanting to move.

“Ruben?” rang out the voice of Ruben’s father.

“Dad!” yelled Ruben, suddenly relieved.

He ran away from the cliff wall, scanning the cliff. Sure enough, on the cliff clutching the M-48 in his hands stood Captain Onyx. Beside him, Clara knelt, he sniper rifle still sweeping the battle field. Leroy also stood beside Captain Onyx, waving foolishly to Ruben.

“We thought you were dead!” yelled Leroy.

“That makes two of us,” replied Ruben.

Ruben turned, just as he saw the man rise and starts to run away from Ruben.

“Stop!” yelled Ruben, and he started chasing the man.

The man peered around his shoulder, seeing Ruben closing in, and started to run faster. Ruben slowed down, aimed his Battle Rifle, and fired a burst into the man’s leg. The man fell with a howl as Ruben was able to run up to him.

“I still have some questions for you!” yelled Ruben as he drew closer.

The Ruben spotted the man pull out something from a pouch on his belt and stuck it into his mouth. Ruben’s eyes widened as the man started chewing frantically.

“No!” yelled Ruben, but the man had already swallowed.

Ruben just reached him as the man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he died. Ruben felt his pulse, nothing. Anger started welling up inside of him, and he pounded on the man’s body in frustration.

Ruben felt a hand lay on his shoulder, lightly, and squeeze lovingly. Ruben looked up to see his father, standing over him. Ruben hadn’t noticed before, but tears had started to well in his eyes.

Then Leroy ran over and went to check the man’s wrist for a pulse, instead finding the tattoo.

“Wow, this dude was a L.E.W. Raptor. Ruben just totally kicked a Raptor’s ass!”

Ruben shook his head, and Captain Onyx knelt beside him.

“What did he tell you?” he asked, in a lowered voice.

Ruben stared into his fathers eyes, anger welling up inside again.

“Not enough,” said Ruben, and then continued to stare back at the ground, “Not enough.”

Ruben never really remembered how long they knelt over the body of the unknown man, but he did remember when Clara cleared her throat and nodded in the direction of the cliff.

Ruben turned in time to see the three Elvidions just reach the edge of the cliff. One of them put up their visor, exposing their face. It was Rebuz.

“Come, humans. The beasts spawn ever more by the minute,” Rebuz yelled.

Clara and Leroy stood and started heading back toward the cliff, and the rope they had used to get down from it. Captain Onyx patted his son’s shoulder, and helped him up. Ruben was not fully recovered from the loss of knowledge, but he wiped his eyes, and prepared to go recover his Assault rifle from where it lay in the ruins of his battle with the L.E.W. Raptor.


Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:31 am
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Another Part of the Story, another piece of the puzzle. What's with this world? What more can happen to our heroes and heroen(spl?)?

Chapter 14
Plan Ahead



Frank rubbed his head lightly as he passed yet another barracks. It still hurt from his mission, but the medic said he’d be fine as long as he took it easy for the night. Sure enough, the sun was setting nicely, casting its orange and maroon glow on the encampment.

Installation 410 was the closest military base to the outpost Frank was sent to check out. A few miles away from the border of the Dune Sea, it was his take off point for the mission.

Frank walked passed a parking lot type area; several battle jeeps (still dubbed Hummers even though the brand had died out years ago for efficiency issues), a couple Light Battle Tanks, and a Main Battle Tank were parked along with people hanging around them. Frank also spotted a small T-Copter in the back. The light helicopter was remote controlled and used strictly for surveillance. Though dieing out for more upgraded models, these were still commonly found at any Linked Earth Worlds Military bases. Its easy to learn, easy to use control style keeps it a rookie’s favorite and its increased mobility in tight places made it ideal for rare missions.

Frank passed the lot and entered the main building. He entered the “Lobby” and looked around. A couple soldiers playing ping-pong in a corner, and some were waiting for appointments and others just hanging out with friends. Some people were actually rushing around, making errands and doing their jobs; they were the desk job boys.

“Frankie! Frankie!”

Frank turned around quickly at the sound of an old nickname. He smiled as he saw a soldier come running up. The soldier was suited up and ready to go, and held an Assault Rifle in his hands.

“Ricky?” questioned Frank, and they embraced quickly.

“Hey, how’s it going, man?” questioned Ricky.

“Hey, owe, get off,” said Frank, pushing off his friend and rubbing his head.

“Sorry, heard you just got back. I’m sorry for the news.”

“That I just got back?”

“No,” said Ricky, “That you lost a lot of comrades, most of your platoon.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Frank, then trying to change the subject stated, “Why are you all dressed up for?”

“Me? Me and my squad are heading over for the St. Marshal line.” Said Ricky, “Along with a lot of supplies. You see, while you were cave exploring, the Gilgathons made a mad dash. Now there’s a good 4 mile line of nothing but the most intense fighting yet. Almost all of the L.E.W. stationed here are either there or suiting up to head over there.”

“Really, wow,” marveled Frank.

“Yeah, it’s intense. I’m kind of scared myself,” said Ricky, then in a whisper he said, “everyone saying that we can’t back off from this fight. If we loose this line, and they keep heading west, then the next place to defend will be Rockweeds.”

“Rockweeds? But that’s the last city on Warswick,” said Frank, “Have they evacuated everyone?”

“The majority,” said Ricky, “mostly that’s just use as another military base, but the loss of Rockweeds would symbolize the ultimate defeat. With nothing else to keep safe, and a good two thousand civilians dead and numerous more soldiers killed, then I see that there will be no reason to stay on this planet. Besides, with all that loss of military life, and proof that our supreme power isn’t enough, and then the Linked Earth Worlds are in danger of full revolt; you know, civil wars, even more rebellions, even more death. The entire world as we know it could come to an end.”

Frank just shook his head, then Ricky continued saying, “but I doubt I’ll live long enough to see it.”

Then another soldier walked up to the door, looked around, and spotted Ricky.

“Rick,” the man shouted, getting Ricky’s attention, “Let’s go, this war isn’t going to win itself.”

Ricky looked at Frank and nodded, then went to walk out the door.

“Ricky,” called Frank, Ricky turned around and looked back, “Keep your head down out there, huh?”

Ricky smiled, and then commented, “I’ll be waiting for you, Frankie. I’ll need someone out there that makes me look good.”

Frank smiled, and watched his friend leave. He shook his head, it seemed that a cloud of sadness had just completely flooded his spirits, on top of guilt he already possessed.

He walked up to the counter, and rang the bell. A secretary turned from her computer, and raised an eyebrow at Frank.

“Can I help you?” he said.

“Can you tell me were Sergeant McCoy is?”

“Sergeant McCoy is in recreation room C, down the hall, go right, and second room on yo left.”

Frank nodded, and then headed down in that direction. As he approached the room, he could hear yelling and arguing. He slowed his walking, trying to listen to what was being said. Then a man got thrown out of the room, covered in a brown liquid that stained his white dress cloths.

“Listen here, you no good sap, I said I didn’t want any of ya damn coffee. Now if you would like me to calm down, get me some hard ass liquor, and maybe a steak. If not, leave me the hell alone, monkey boy!”

The man got up and started speed walking down the hall, mumbling to himself. Frank squinted his eyes, wondering if now was the best time to see the Sergeant. After some deliberation, he decided he had to, and continued to walk through the door.

The room was empty besides a lone man standing on a patio through double glassed doors. Some chairs were over turned, and a broken coffee maker glass was on the ground. Frank straightened himself a bit, and then continued walking toward the Sergeant. Sergeant McCoy puffed slowly on a brand new cigar, and he leaned on a railing while watching the last bit of light fade away over the horizon, casting the world to night.

“You come for another beating, boy?” snarled the Sergeant without turning.

“Sarge?”

Sergeant McCoy turned around, one of his eyebrows slightly raised. Then he turned back to the view.

“Dufraine,” he said.

Frank took a chair and sat near the Sergeant, taking a glass of water that was nearby and sipping on it. It was quiet for a bit, before the Sergeant spoke.

“They want to put us on a new mission,” said the Sergeant, “Back out into combat.”

“But it’s only been a few hours,” said Frank.

“No, you were knocked out cold for a few hours,” replied the Sergeant, taking another puff of his cigar.

Frank waited a bit, before asking, “Where are they?”

Sergeant McCoy paused, then said, “Don’t know.”

“What happened?”

The Sergeant had another long pause, puffing the cigar again then answering, “Our boys dropped and started firing on them, they escaped over a small cliff, then… then they deployed a Raptor.”

Frank’s heart skipped a beat. He felt terrible. He didn’t know what to say. It was silent, for a while.

Sergeant McCoy broke the silence, “They haven’t heard back from him. Sent out a surveillance unit an hour ago looking for him.”

Frank shook his head, and then asked, “We’re probably going to be sent to St Marshal. You know that-“

“I heard,” Sergeant McCoy barked, “Tons of men and women dieing, a record amount of air strikes and ammo usage. New forms of the bastards popping out all over the place.”

The sergeant took another puff, and went silent again.

“You think we’re going to loose?” asked Frank, “Rockweeds will fall? The L.E.W. will have to leave. Galactic chaos?”

The Sergeant chuckled slightly, and then turned to Frank.

“How long have you been in the core? You don’t know that the L.E.W. won’t back down without a fight, and doesn’t take defeat lightly?”

Frank looked at the sergeant, and he continued, saying, “They’ll take every single survivor and back out the planet, sure, but they won’t let these bugs win. They’ll commence with code Black-X.”

“Code Black-X?”

“Yeah, it’s the absolutely most forbidden code they could use,” said the sergeant, “They’ll completely nuke the planet, leaving it useless and destroying every last one of those S.O.B.s.”

“Nuke the planet?”

“Yeah, they’ll send down so many nukes that the whole surface of the planet would glow 24/7 for the next four-billion years. That should eradicate every last one of those bastards,” said the sergeant, then he added, “and the hogs.”

Frank again flew back into a pit of guilt, and finished off the glass of water. Frank looked out at the horizon again. The last bit of light had just disappeared around the edge of Warswick and the stars painted the sky. Frank recapped his adventure through the day, shaking his head along the way.

“You think they’ll make it?” Frank finally asked.

Sergeant McCoy didn’t say anything; he kept starring out into the stars. A surveillance satellite streaked across the sky overhead.

“The aliens, and the others. You think they can do it?”

The sergeant removed his cigar from his mouth, and blew a long stream of smoke.

“If they can,” Sergeant McCoy said, “Then I’d be damned to miss out on the fun.”

A skinny man can through the double doors behind them and saluted.

“Sergeant McCoy, sir, the commander will see you now.”

Sergeant McCoy refused the man a return salute, and he put out his cigar on the railing and put it in his chest pocket. The man put down his hand and turned to Frank.

“Private Frank Dufraine? You should come too.”

“Come on, boy,” said Sergeant McCoy to the man, “take us to our assignment.”

With that, all three of the men left the room.


He looked out; he saw the plains of Warswick. The wind blew through the sand ever so slightly, but it did not mask the blazing sun that was beating down on the land. The sounds of some distant battle could be heard from somewhere unknown, but he didn’t care.

Uri was searching for something, what was it? He walked on in the direction of the wind, unknown of why he walked this way. Overhead was some sort of ship; it looked alien because it was large and rounded. It seemed just to hover above Warswick, like an ever lasting wind. Though Uri had never seen it before, he seemed to recognize it, as though he had seen it every day of his life. It seemed to wave, slightly, like a mirage.

Then Uri tripped, falling to the ground more slowly then he’d ever expected. Uri seemed confused, but he knew what had tripped him. A small hole in the ground that seemed to have led to some underground cavern. Uri moved himself, in a position so he could look into it.

Inside he saw a light illuminating a spot in a cavern. In the spot was a young man. The man looked up, into Uri’s eyes. Uri recognized this man, he knew he did.

“Ruben?” he asked, staring into the hole.

“Uri, help me,” Ruben yelled.

Uri could here the growls and snarls of some far off beast, and Ruben’s face turned scared. He swung his rifle around, shooting at some unknown threat.

“Ruben,” Uri yelled, “RUBEN!”

Ruben kept yelling for Uri to save him, and kept wildly spinning around, firing at the beasts.

“Help me, Uri, they’re coming for me. THEY ARE COMING!”

“Ruben, hang on! I’m commin’” yelled Uri, and he began to dig vigorously into the ground, trying to make the hole bigger.

No matter how much Uri seemed to dig, he never seemed to make the hole bigger. Ruben’s scream began to become more frantic.

“Hold on!” Uri yelled, “I’m commin’ for ya, Ruben!”

Then some sort of large, reptilian beast ran up from behind Ruben and knocked him over. Ruben hit the ground and dropped his weapon. The creature hunched over Ruben, and began to eat him. Ruben’s shrieks of pain rang in Uri’s ears.

“No!” Uri yelled, and he grabbed his Assault Rifle and aimed the barrel in the hole and pressed the trigger.

But nothing happened. Uri kept pressing the trigger, but nothing came out.

“No… no, no, no, NO” cried Uri, and he rapidly pulled the trigger.

Then Uri heard something else, someone slowly calling his name. He turned around to look at who was calling his name. It was Linda. She stood, about a good 15 yards away. She seemed blurry, vaguely outlined. Uri was about to call her to help him but another large reptilian beast towered over behind her. It opened its wide mouth, and then chomped down on her.

“No!”

Uri tried to eject the magazine on his gun, thinking it was out of ammo, but the magazine wouldn’t eject. Uri kept jamming the button, but couldn’t get it to eject. Finally, he just threw it on the ground and started running toward the creature. As he ran, he began to sink in the sand. Uri found himself frantically trying to swim in the sand, but he just kept sinking. As he sunk beneath the sand, he tried to yell out one last scream.

“Uri, Uri…”

Uri closed his eyes; he could feel the sand run down his throat. Then the sand seemed to grab his shoulders, and he felt himself get shaken.

“Uri, get up, man. URI!”

Uri opened his eyes with a jolt. Sergeant Malcolm removed his hands from Uri’s shoulders and placed a finger on his lips. Uri looked around, the others were making their way down the ladder and a man with a strange looking rocket launcher was trying to rush them down. Uri rubbed his eyes, they were wet with tears.

“You alright, son?” asked Malcolm, “You had some dream.”

Uri furrowed his eyebrows, the pointed at the man.

“Does he have a rocket launcher?” he asked.

“Follow us,” said the man, “That’s what the meeting’s about.”

“Meeting?” asked Uri, but the man had already started scurrying down the latter.

Malcolm moved over to where the man had stood and aimed his battle rifle out over the battle field. The distant sounds of war that Uri had heard were the sounds of one or two firefights that were still happening around The Wall. Malcolm looked down the later, and then motioned for Uri to go.

Uri got up and made his way to the latter when an explosion rang out in his ears. He hit the ground as the walls, ceiling, and his bones shook with the force of the impact. Uri shook his head and Malcolm helped him up and pushed him towards the latter. Tank fire. Tank rounds had become a little less common since the chain gun was taken out and the L.E.W. infantry were able to move closer and prove more of a threat.

Uri got onto the ladder and slid himself down. When he reached the bottom he backed up to leave enough space for Sergeant Malcolm, who was right behind him.

Uri looked at the man, who nodded and looked around at the whole group of people. Uri was here, and so were Sergeant Malcolm, Arnold, and Roger. The man nodded.

“Ok, you are the chosen group to perform this task,” he said, “Come this way, the briefing room is over here. We don’t have much time.”


“Gentlemen,” said the General, “let me be the first to say that you are truly the last of the brave.”

Uri just looked at him with a blank stare. Was that supposed to be motivational, he thought. Uri looked around the room again. Joining them was a lot of the fighting council. General Swahili, Colonel Woodcock, Colonel Goliath, and Major Shaft sat at a table, while Uri and the others stood in front of them.

“A lot of men have turned down this mission, but we’re sure you can handle it,” said the General, and then he stared at Uri and said, “You did want to help out, didn’t you?”

Uri furrowed his brow, but was sure to keep still so he could listen to more.

“As you probably noticed, gentlemen, Corporal Felix here is holding a rocket launcher,” said General Swahili.

The man with the rocket launcher stepped forward, and placed it on the table. Colonel Goliath got up and picked it up.

“Sir,” said Malcolm, as the man stepped back into the line, “I wasn’t aware that we held any form of rocket launcher for some time.”

“That is true, Sergeant,” said Colonel Woodcock, “but my division had been working on a form of rocket launcher for some time. This is the prototype version.”

Uri couldn’t help but look disgusted. The “rocket launcher” looked like a giant tube with a scope. It was shorter then a regular M7-K8 Rocket Launcher, but it was thicker. By the look of the actual rockets, they, too, were shorter but thicker then the actual M7-K8 rounds.

Colonel Woodcock caught Uri’s uneasy glance.

“Let me emphasize the word prototype,” he said, again.

“It was made in the hopes that dependency on raiding L.E.W. convoys for rocket ammo would be cut short. Its rounds are made for high explosive impact, but as you can probably tell, its range is cut short. Very, very short, gentlemen,” said Colonel Goliath.

“So, basically, you can put it all together. That L.E.W. MBT has to go. We can’t fire at it from The Wall. Your mission… should you accept it… which I’m sure you will, is to escort Corporal Felix into range, and take out that MBT,” and with that, General Swahili sat back more in his chair.

No one said anything for a bit, and then Arnold spoke up.

“Why the MBT, sir?”

“The MBT is our biggest threat right now,” said Colonel Woodcock, “Though we have no idea why so few L.E.W. soldiers are attacking us, and why only one MBT is present, we do know that the MBT is their strongest weapon and it is the biggest threat at this moment. Who knows, maybe if we take it out they’ll pull back.”

This left the room silent for a bit. Then Major Shaft taped the table and made several hand jesters. The General nodded, and then turned back to the others.

“We know that the MBT will be well guarded, and getting up to it won’t be a picnic either. That’s why we’re sending you along with him,” said the General, “You see, we’re going to try to help you guys out as much as possible. We also don’t want to make a huge distraction for nothing. We will, at the same time, be trying to re-set up the chain gun.”

“The old one will be removed, whatever we can salvaged from it will be salvaged but mainly we will be putting a new chain gun up there, reclaiming our position of hope and dominance on the battle field,” finished Colonel Goliath.

“You couldn’t be more right, Gordon,” said the General, then he turned to the others and said, “how about it?”

There was barely a pause when Uri chose to speak.

“If others refuse to take this task, why should we?” he said.

Uri felt all eyes turn on him, and then the General stood. He sighed, slightly, and then he shook his head slightly.

“Because if we can’t hold The Wall then the next place to fall is the fortress,” he said, “And the good lord knows that won’t hang out long.”

Waiting a while, Colonel Goliath threw in, “and your friend won’t have a home to return to.”

With that, Uri knew they were using that to make him take the mission; but he also knew that they were right. Taking down that MBT was the only way to guarantee The Wall would hold out another couple of weeks, versus a couple of days.

Uri, sighed, then nodded his head.

“I don’t know about the rest of these guys, but I’m in,” he said.


Tue Sep 30, 2008 2:53 pm
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Another Fine Day for a Chapter...

Chapter 15
Cleansing Warswick



The sun had gone down, but they had not stopped for the night. Leroy had gathered wood for the fire, but no kindling to start it with could be found. Rebuz helped with that, with a strange contraption that instantly lit the wood.

They all settled down around the campfire after that. Ruben was really tired. He sat and took a MRE out of his pouch and placed it over the small fire, like his dad and Leroy had already done. The Elvidions insisted that, if they didn’t hit any “complications in the path”, then they should definably reach the temple sometime the next day, after noon. Ruben didn’t care at the time, but now that he saw how little food that they actually had, he knew that the faster this whole thing was done the better.

As they sat around the fire, they didn’t talk much, but it didn’t surprise Ruben when Leroy broke the silence.

“So, uh, what exactly are we doing and how are we going to do it?” he asked.

“Our plan is to destroy the Gilgamite Queen that rests inside the prison, and hopefully take out much of the Gilgamite brood with it,” answered Biozard.

“And how are you planning to do that?” asked Clara with her mouth full of food.

“With this,” answered Rebuz, and he pulled out a crystal from some compartment unknown to Ruben.
It was about the size of a car engine. It faintly glowed a light blue, and seemed to dim as it appeared to grow slightly. Ruben became puzzled about how the Elvidion carried it around and kept it hidden, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one; but no one said anything.

“We shall plant this on the queen, who should be located in the main high security chamber in the center of the prison. Its explosion should eradicate the beast’s queen,” continued Rebuz.

“It should also destroy many of the queen’s brood,” chimed in Biozard, “Which should destroy the majority of the outbreak.”

Again, they fell silent. Mostly, they lulled the thought over in their heads. Captain Onyx cleared his thought and stood, walking slowly into a clearer spot and started drawing a crude map in the dirt. Rebuz also stood and walked behind him, examining his map. Rebuz wanted to, but others had started standing up to get a better view.

The map Captain Onyx drew was crude, but true. He clearly outlined where they camp, and a forest like area. He also showed a crude outline of the temple.

“Hey, how do you know that area?” said Leroy.

“I was one of the few who were alive and close by who witnessed E-Day, remember?” barked Captain Onyx, who didn’t stop his drawing.

“Excuse me, ‘E-Day’?” asked Rebuz.

“Emergence Day,” said Captain Onyx, who finished up his drawing.

“Ok, we’re here,” said Captain Onyx, pointing to a spot in the dirt, “The temple is here, how you expect to get us there?”

“Why, we shall walk, of course,” said Rebuz.

“No, everyone knows those grounds are crawling with Gilgathons,” said Clara, “A direct approach would ensure our death.”

“Well, covert ops would be impossible,” said Leroy, “maybe we should just stay behind for cover while the nice aliens go plant the diamond.”

“What?” said Ruben.

“Well, we can’t fight the scary beasts like they can, besides, it’s there ‘holy’ mission,” continued Leroy, “We can provide some sort of cover. We all know as soon as they enter those things will be all over them, and it’ll be a miracle in itself if they make it to the queen, little alone getting out of that hell hole.”

Again, they went quiet. Rebuz nodded slightly, and took a seat again.

“It is true,” said Rebuz, “That many do not believe that we will live to accomplish our mission. Even more then that believe that a suicide is the only true way to achieve victory, and our death will bring glorious victory.”

Rebuz paused a second, almost as if to allow this to sink in. Then he continued.

“But I do not wish to die this day, or any other day soon. I have so many things to put in line before I meet the creator, but the cold reality still stands that to achieve our mission, we may need to sacrifice our lives. And that,” Finished Rebuz, “is a cost that I would be willing to sacrifice for the victory of your small war, and keep your race safe, and my race from entering another great war.”

Another pause followed. Elrond said something to Rebuz, and Rebuz replied with a short huff back. Ruben sighed, he didn’t want to think of it, but if they kept what they originally vowed then they would probably die. He also didn’t want to let down his new alien allies. Rebuz stood again, and headed over toward the area dubbed the “Elvidion Sleeping area”, well it wasn’t technically dubbed that but Ruben nor the others knew how they slept or if they were even going to sleep.

As he walked over toward the area, Rebuz said, “I trust in my god, he will see us through. Let his will be done.”

As Rebuz joined Elrond, and Biozard got up and left the campfire to join them, Captain Onyx sighed and sat back down.

“Do you think they will tell?” asked Clara.

“What?” questioned Leroy.

“The L.E.W. guys, Frank and the Sergeant. You think they’ll tell their superiors about the aliens.”

“Who’s Frank? Wait, was he the other one, Duff-” said Leroy, but was cut short.

“I don’t know,” said Captain Onyx.

“Yeah, as we know they’ll do whatever’s good for them,” said Ruben.

“Don’t be so harsh, the Elvidions were missing, we made it out of the caves, and they had reinforcements watching them,” said Captain Onyx, “Do you think we would have done anything different? The Elvidions gone as if in a dream, our boys come up over the horizon, outnumber them. We’d look like traitors hand-in-hand with them, no?”

No one said anything as a light sound came from the Elvidions. Ruben listened closely and recognized their language, and concluded it to be of some sort of singing or chanting. When he heard no repeating phrases of tunes, he concluded that they must have been praying, or doing some other religious ritual.

Captain Onyx pressed his com, and said, “How you holding up, Dex?”

“Not good,” said Dex, “L.E.W. has been attacking, but we have a plan that might buy us time, but only that. We need whoever we can. When you guys coming back?”
Ruben saw his dad sigh heavily and face the ground. He probably felt what Ruben felt or more. Ruben didn’t like the feeling of letting down his fellow soldiers, all he lived for, all he ever knew, but they had to help the Elvidions.

“We’re… uh… we’re not coming back, Dex,” said Captain Onyx.

There was a long pause, and Dex said nothing. Captain Onyx, who had been keeping Dex as much out of the loop as possible, decided to tell Dex of all that had happened, that, in fact, the Elvidions had not disappeared, and he did in fact know what they wanted. He told Dex about their vow to help them complete their mission, and how they were now on their way to the temple. When he finished, Dex let out a long sigh.

“I… I don’t know what to say,” said Dex after a bit.

“Listen, I know this is hard to understand, but we have to do this,” said Captain Onyx, “It’s like… as if it was our destiny.”

Another pause allowed Captain Onyx to look around the campfire and look every one of his soldiers in the eye, staring the longest into Ruben’s.

“Captain, you do know that you’re putting a 484 to 3 chance of survival against a horde of Gilgathons in the hands of three aliens who believe that we descended from an almighty being who watches over us and has a plan for each and every one of us, right?” said Dex.

Captain Onyx could only smirk slightly and say, “Well, you know, they never really truly proved there was no God.”

With that, everyone mutually decided that the fact of life was that they would go, to their deaths or to glorious victory, and that was that. They stayed up for a few more minutes, talking with each other and Dex. After a while, they felt getting some sleep was in order. That was the best idea Ruben had heard in a long time.

The only person to bring a portable, one person tent was Leroy, who brought it on accident. They decided to give it to Clara, but she turned it down and said that Captain Onyx was getting old, and needed it more. After they argued a bit about who needed to get the tent, Leroy ended up with it and everyone else set up outside. Ruben stared at the stars for a bit, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

An hour later, Ruben awoke when something rustled. It was just the Elvidions; they had stood and stopped their soothing chanting. Then the Elvidions picked up their rifles and two of them closed their visors and started walking off. The last one, Rebuz, seemed to bow slightly in his large suit and said something in his Elvidion tongue. With that, he, too, shut his visor and followed the others.
Ruben sat up, and watched them go.

“Hey,” he said, but the Elvidions continued, up and over a small hill not too far away that blocked them from his view.

Ruben jumped up and awoke his father, shaking him where he slept.

“Dad,” he said, “Dad, wake up, their gone!”

“What? Who, the Elvidions?” asked Captain Onyx.

“Yes, just now.”

“Then let’s go!”

With that, they awoke Clara and Leroy, and they packed up and headed off as fast as they could to follow. They didn’t jog for long when they came across the three large figures in the dark, who took a firing position as they neared.

“Hey, hey, don’t shoot!” yelled Captain Onyx as they got closer.

Rebuz stood and pulled back his visor. When they neared, the other two did the same.

“Humans, why did you follow?” said Rebuz.

“The question is, why you didn’t wake us,” said Clara.

“This is not your mission,” said Rebuz, “I was chosen to carry this burden.”

“Yeah, it may be your mission,” said Leroy, “But it’s our fight. As much as I hate to say it, it’s true.”

Captain Onyx raised one of his hands in a shake and held it out for Rebuz, saying, “As long as I still breathe, this is not your burden. The outcome of this is both our races fates. Now we do it together or not at all.”

Rebuz stared on; dumbstruck, it seemed. Then his face stretched into the closest thing to a smirk Ruben thought it could muster and he reached out and grasped Captain Onyx’s hand.

“Done, human,” he said, “And as long as my heart beats true, I shall do my best to keep your race safe.”

With that, they let go of each others hands and turned to walk toward their unknown fates. Ruben felt a sense of honor, even though fear was right behind it. He swallowed a lump in his throat, and gave a big smile.


30 minutes after that, Dex came on the radio and asked for Ruben. Ruben turned on his radio, he had kept it off for battery purposes, and said, “ya?”

“Yeah, Ruben. Listen, I just wanted to relay a message,” said Dex.

“A message?” thought Ruben.

“Yeah, you see. We’re under attack and everything, as you know, but a special team has been put together to, hopefully, buy us time. In that team… is your friend; Uri is going with them and starting the mission soon, Ruben.”

Ruben felt his heart turn to ice. Uri, his best friend, one of his only friends, was putting his life on the line without him.

“B-but...” started Ruben.

“Ruben, he just wanted to say he wished he could have done more to help you, and he wishes you luck,” continued Dex, “He also said that he’s ‘glad you’re on our side.’”

Ruben nodded, and then said, “Tell him I said I’m glad too. And that he was the best friend a guy could have.”

Ruben felt a tear swell up a bit, and he wiped it away.

Then he continued saying, “And tell him I said good-bye.”

The full reality of the mission had been looming over Ruben since he first heard the plan what seemed like years ago, but now it crashed down on him, hard. He didn’t say anything, but he continued onward, toward his fate and the fate of his world.


Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:42 am
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Ah, As this thread is still quiet, and a new project of mine surfaces, I believe it's time for yet another installment. If you haven't noticed Commentaries have stopped because there's no point these days. Though, I do encourage you to post. If activity picks up, maybe I'll post a few more.


Chapter 16
Plan B



Uri tightened his chin strap on his helmet as he exited the L.R.V. and joined the rest of the group. Corporal Felix headed the group, doing last minute checks on the prototype rocket launcher. Malcolm did last checks on Roger’s gear. A couple of other soldiers stood around them. The sounds of war still echoed in the tunnels and The Road as the first orange lights of dawn shown through the openings. A distant boom of light cannon fire reminded Uri of their mission.

Another L.R.V. road up as Arnold and another soldier got out and joined them. Uri was about to greet them as Colonel Woodcock walked up with a squad of soldiers, one of which carried a chain gun.

“Come on, gentlemen. Time waits for no man, or woman at that. There’s been a small lull in the combat, so now is the time. Major Shaft will be leading the assault to replace the chain gun soon, but the effort is useless if those tanks target it again,” said Colonel Woodcock, as the squad of soldiers continued right past him, “Go, Corporal Felix, the fate of the alliance rests in the success of this mission.

With that, the Colonel turned his back and marched off down a corridor. Uri felt a tap on the shoulder and he turned. Sergeant Malcolm pointed toward the latter, where most of the team had already scrambled up. Uri shook slightly and headed up the latter to follow the rest. As he did, he heard Corporal Felix talking above.

“Thank you for joining us. Right, gents, meet Privates Mentis, Karen, and Jacques. They volunteered to help after they heard of a team crazy enough to help.”

Uri reached the top of the latter and was helped up.

“And, who is this?” asked Uri as he rose.

“He’s my friend,” said Arnold, “His name’s Ben.”

“Welcome aboard, Benjamin,” said Sergeant Malcolm as he rose from the latter.

“Alright,” said Felix, “We don’t have much time. Those lads can only keep the attention of Lou for so long. Let’s blow something up!”

With that, he turned and headed over to one of the openings overlooking the battlefield. Sergeant Malcolm walked over and looked over the edge. He motioned Private Mentis and Roger, brought over a folded rope, recurred it, and through it over the side. With that, Sergeant Malcolm grabbed the rope and motioned for Uri to follow. As he swung down, Sergeant Malcolm kept a wary eye on the battle field.

Uri scanned the area, too, only seeing a bunker like rock formation where L.E.W. presence was apparent. Uri was sure they’d take that out first, so he swung over the side and hoisted himself down the rope. When he hit the ground, he instinctively jogged to the nearest rocks and he took cover. He scanned the field as he heard a couple more feet hit the ground and run for cover. Uri looked back in time to see Malcolm motion for Uri, Jacques, and Roger to follow him forward.

They walked up a rough path for a bit until Uri could see the small group of L.E.W. he had seen before. As they approached, the others broke off toward another way. Uri stopped to try to join them but was hurried along by Arnold and Karen.

Felix was also with them, but he headed off with the rest of the team.

“Sleepers, take them out,” said Karen.

“Be silent about it,” said Felix, “No need starting the party so soon.”

Uri pulled out his combat knife and followed Karen down to the group of soldiers. Three of the soldiers were sleeping, their fire slowly going out. A fourth was up, sleepily walking toward the fire. He unzipped his pants and started peeing on the ashes, unaware of their presence.

Karen walked up to the soldier and slit his throat. She turned and leapt onto another sleeping soldier as the standing one gurgled and fell to the ground, dead. As Karen stabbed the second soldier, Uri slit another soldier’s throat and stabbed him in the chest to make sure he would die.

When Uri stood, Karen was wiping her knife on one of the soldier’s pants and Arnold was pulling his knife from a soldier’s chest.

“Nice job, you got two,” said Arnold.

“Yes, nice job, show-off. Stop fooling around and get up here, we’re almost ready to set up,” said Sergeant Malcolm over the radio.

“Don’t worry,” commented Karen, “We’ll be there to baby sit you guys.”

“We don’t need your baby sitting skills, but your overpowering charm would be nice, dear,” said Felix.

“I’m not your ‘dear’, you British prick.”

Felix’s chuckling could be heard over the radio as Uri and the others headed toward them. It didn’t take long, for they were moving at a snails pace. Uri moved to the front, where Malcolm was surveying the land up ahead.

Uri saw that the small fire fights still continued, but the main assault to regain the chain gun hadn’t begun yet. Uri could hear the blast of the light tank cannon, it was closer then he had anticipated. He couldn’t yet see the MBT, but he knew they were just about close enough to see it any second.

“Alright, let’s make this quick,” said Malcolm, as he vaulted over the rocks he was using as cover.

Uri followed, not paying much attention to what the others were doing. A group of L.E.W. opened fire close by them. Uri instinctively ducked, trying to avoid any fire, but was pulled aside by Malcolm, who placed a finger over his lips. Uri looked around, realizing that they weren’t receiving any enemy fire. The group must have been firing at the fortress. Then Uri heard the distinctive crack of a sniper rifle.

“That team has a sniper,” said Ben.

“We’re going to need to expose ourselves now,” said Sergeant Malcolm, “line up, get cover, and choose your cover wisely.”

Uri moved toward the sound of the gunfire more and looked over a pile of rocks. He spotted them; it was a heavy team of 9. Four soldiers held Battle Rifles, and fired furiously at the fortress, three others held Assault Rifles. One held a strange weapon, like a small machine gun, and didn’t fire much. The last held a sniper rifle, and he knelt, staring toward the fortress intently.

Uri aimed, he figured Malcolm would go for the sniper figuring the fact that he had the longest ranged weapon in the small team. He decided to aim at the soldier with the small machine gun, since he wasn’t firing at anyone Uri figured he’d be quickest to respond.

“Now” was all Uri heard over the radio when he pulled his trigger and heard his rifle join the chorus of other rifles as the bunch of L.E.W. soldiers got hit with bullets of every sort. Five fell, easy. The others turned and barely knew what hit them before they, too, fell victim to the team’s coordinated attack. Other soldiers farther away witnessed the massacre, and turned to fire at the team. They only got a few shots off when the battle field roared with gunfire suddenly.

Uri looked toward the fortress, and saw that Major Shaft was starting the distraction. Even though they did draw a lot of fire and attention away from the team, Uri could still see many soldiers setting up in firing positions to shoot at them. Uri aimed and fired a few shots at a man running for cover. Uri then jumped from cover to cover to follow the advancing team.

“I can see the LBT!” yelled Jacques.

Sure enough, the tank was a ways off, but its long barrel still showed clearly in the early dawn light.

“There’s no time for sight seeing, boys,” yelled Felix, “We have to take down that MBT!”

With that, Uri ran toward Felix, who was a little farther ahead then the others. All Felix wielded was a Desert Rat’s M8-7 Pump, which was practically useless in battle. When he reached him, he assisted Felix in dispatching three L.E.W. soldiers who were keeping him pinned down and he joined him behind a rock.

“Thanks, Private,” said Felix.

“The name’s Uri, dude, and don’t forget it,” said Uri, who returned his attention to the combat.

“Jacques, Mantis, Roger; stay here and provide cover,” commanded Sergeant Malcolm, as he joined Uri and Felix.

“Over there,” said Karen, as she vaulted over Uri and their rock cover, “That sniper spot would work great!”

Sure enough, there was a raised, small, well guarded, flat area where it looked ideal for a sniper. Odds are it was one of the positions that the L.E.W. had been using for a sniper campout. So, because of that, Felix marked it a target.

“Uri, go ahead and take out anyone up there,” said Felix, “We’ll cover you from down here, good luck, mate.”

Uri nodded, and headed toward a pile of rocks farther on, ducking for cover from the rain of bullets that followed. The sound of the bullets ricocheting all around Uri made his ears hurt, and he didn’t know what to do but to blind fire over the top of the rocks. He heard shouts and other gunfire from his allies, but he could never really tell where exactly they were.

Uri’s head spun. What am I doin’ here? He asked himself. He ran his fingers through his hair, what little he had left and quietly prepared himself. He peeked around the side of his cover, and spotted a few soldiers firing at his position. He swung his gun around and fired a few shots at them, hitting one in the leg and making the other duck behind cover.

Uri seized this moment to roll to new cover, and he crouch-walked toward the sniper position. As he neared, he noticed a small walkway going up into the position on the opposite side of the sniper spot. As he neared, he noticed three soldiers running down it. The soldiers did not notice Uri, so they were surprised as ever when Uri jumped up from cover and unloaded the rest of his clip into their bodies.

When the last guard fell, Uri rolled another cylindrical clip into his assault rifle and headed up the path. As he neared the top, he crouched and peeked over.

Sure enough, the L.E.W. was using this spot as a sniper position. A L.E.W. scout with a sniper rifle lay prone looking through his scope toward the fortress as two soldiers on either side of him with battle rifles scanned the ground below for the attacking team.

Uri jumped up and aimed. They didn’t even notice he was there. So, he pulled the trigger and fired at the first soldier, killing him instantly. He immediately turned to the other, who tried to spin around before receiving a burst from Uri’s rifle. The sniper jumped up, but couldn’t bring his pistol to bear before Uri shot him back and he fell from the sniper spot.

Uri did a quick scan, seeing the spot was empty. As he did his scan, he spotted the MBT. It was much closer then he expected, almost in assault rifle range. It was huge, definably a monster machine. It had its two, large cannons pointed toward the fortress, but it didn’t shoot. Uri saw now that it’s back, double, armored doors were open and soldiers and engineers ran around it. Uri noticed giant tank shells littered the ground in places, and only a few piles had sprung up. Then he spotted a rack of unused tank rounds, and people loading the rounds into the MBT.

“Uri, you there?” asked Malcolm through the radio.

“I see it, sir, they’re reloading its ammunition,” said Uri back.

“Then come on and help me up,” said Felix.

Uri walked over to the side of the lookout and saw Felix waiting to be lifted up. Uri reached down his hand and lifted Felix onto the platform. Malcolm, Arnold, and Karen went the more dangerous route around to where Uri had come from. Uri and Felix tried to give them cover, since a lot of L.E.W. had turned their attention to them. Ben had stayed in the area Felix had just vacated and took cover, providing support from there.

When Felix looked around, he smiled. He immediately started unlatching the rocket launcher from his back and loading it with a rocket.

“This is perfect, we’re just in range of both tanks that if I make a precision shot, we can destroy them both!” said Felix.

“Keep in mind, Felix,” said Karen, “It’s only a prototype, I was told we have to-”

“Ah, yes, but your record says you’re not quiet good at doing what you’re told, right Miss Karen?” said Felix, “Besides, what’s a prototype if you don’t push its limits.”

“Here they come,” said Malcolm, “Look alive, here they come!”

Sergeant Malcolm was right, the soldiers loading up the MBT dropped what they were doing and started taking cover and firing at the team while the engineers ran back into the MBT.

“Crap,” muttered Uri.

“Take cover,” yelled Arnold.

Uri ducked forward and began firing back at the soldiers. Sergeant Malcolm landed next to Uri and Arnold on the other side of him. Uri kept firing, taking down a couple of soldiers trying to move up for a better shot. Malcolm reloaded after taking out a soldier with a battle rifle. Uri was about to pull his trigger again for another burst of bullets but was tapped on the shoulder.

When Uri turned, he saw Felix ready to go, the rocket launcher against his shoulder and he held two handles. One, located below the launcher itself, had a trigger on it, which Felix had his right hand ready to pull, the second was on the side and had a scope on its base, and Felix had his left hand holding it. Uri always pictured it held differently, but didn’t complain.

“Get down,” said Felix.

Uri dropped down and covered his head, he didn’t know if the others were doing it as well, but he assumed so. Then he heard a large boom, and felt the streak of hot air. He looked up and saw the rocket fly straight and true, right toward the MBT. The MBT was in the process of turning its cannons to fire at them, but the rocket his it dead on.

A humongous BOOM shook the ground, and Uri had to duck again as the explosion from the rocket set off the unused tank shells around the MBT and, since the back door was open, all the ones inside the MBT, too. A large fireball hopped out of the explosion and into the sky as fire swept the area the MBT once stood proud and mighty.

Uri couldn’t help but let out a yell, and he stood up. Two vents had popped out of the rocket launcher and blew hot steam and gasses out. After a bit, they closed and Felix loaded another rocket.

“It’s not time to party yet, lads,” said Felix, “We’ve become popular with that LBT.”

Sure enough, the light tank began turning it’s turret around to face the team. Uri switched to another side and tried to fire at troops on the ground. As the turret turned, it stopped on something else, aiming down toward a group of soldiers.

“Jacques, Mantis, Roger!” yelled Felix.

“Move!” yelled Sergeant Malcolm.

But they were too late. The tanks barrel flashed at a round slammed right into the place the three were. A small explosion rang out, and a scream was lightly heard, then, nothing.

“Guys, come in, guys!” said Malcolm into the radio, he didn’t get a response so he repeated it again.

“Cover me,” said Felix, “Those soldiers are making it hell for me to get a bloody shot!”

Uri shook off any feeling of remorse he might have had at that time and returned to shooting L.E.W., but even as he downed two more soldiers, he could help but stare as the light tanks’ turret began to turn again, towards them.

Then Uri felt the familiar tap on the soldier, but he knew what to do. He dropped faster then he had ever done in his life, and closed his eyes, and his ringing ears. He felt the familiar stream of hot air, and a slight pause, before feeling the ground rumble slightly. When he looked up, nothing but a smoldering metal tank body could be found of the LBT’s presence.

The world was silent; Uri didn’t seem to hear anything accept the heaviness of his breathing and the hiss of the steam from the rocket launcher. Then, the rat-ta-tat-tat of the chain gun broke the silence and yells and woops of the rebel alliance as they fired upon the L.E.W. rang out. Uri smiled, and nodded his head slightly. Then he heard footsteps behind the team and he swerved around, aiming his rifle at the figure. It was Ben, panting hard.

“We did it,” he yelled, “They’re retreating!”

Sure enough, Uri saw and heard the retreating L.E.W. forces and the remaining LBT. The LBT still fired at the fortress, but they were only random retreat cover shots. Uri allowed himself to let out a whoop of joy, and he was quickly joined by Arnold, Ben, and Karen.

Uri felt a hand clasp his back as Felix walked up to him, the Rocket Launcher and M8-7 Pump on his back, a stolen L.E.W. M8-7 Assault Rifle in his hands.

“Good job, mate,” he said, “We did it, we all successfully did it.”

“You didn’t do so bad yourself, Corporal,” said Sergeant Malcolm.

“Come on,” said Arnold, “Let’s get back where we can be truly congratulated.”

Uri nodded his head, and followed Karen and Malcolm down from the sniper spot. Felix was talking with Ben and Arnold, who kept asking questions about the rocket launcher and commending him on his great shooting. Uri smiled, but a thought crept into his mind that had not in a while. He was, at that moment, wondering what Ruben was doing. He almost allowed himself to fall into another mood of despair, but, instead, thought of how he was going to tell Ruben this story when he came back. Uri then joined in Sergeant Malcolm and Karen’s conversation as they headed back toward the fortress.


Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:13 am
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... In a Galaxy.... Far Far Away.... I'll use that again someother time I'm sure...
Again I'd like to remind that this is for older users (11 isn't older!) so, thank you. You exited yet????


Chapter 17
Reunion



Ruben yawned again; fatigue was starting to show on him and the rest of the group. Even the Elvidions seemed to be a little distant, and slower then usual. They had traveled all night, and the late light of dawn was ready to turn into the vibrant colors of day. The beauty of the morning couldn’t cover the sadness that befell the team when the Temple loomed in the distance.

It looked like an Aztec temple, but more rounded on edges and corners. Some of it was missing, and there were some jewels on the top. Moss and some trees seemed to have once grown there but burning and scarring damaged most of it away.

Ruben didn’t speak much about the how, but he assured them they would reach the temple in no time. As time went on, Captain Onyx tried to pass the time by striking up conversations here and there. It worked for a little bit, calmed down most everyone except the Elvidions, who kept silent and to themselves, and Leroy, whose overwhelming fear of Gilgathons kept him on high alert.

“So, how about the ideal girl for you, Captain?” asked Clara.

“Oh, I’m an old geezer this far out,” said Captain Onyx, “But any women with a gun in one hand and an independent mind in the other will do.”

“Sounds a lot like Styx,” piped Dex over the com.

“Hey,” called back Clara.

“What about you, Dex,” said Ruben, “There a girl in your sights?”

There was a pause, and then Dex said, “Well… uh, I don’t know.”

“Come on, Dex,” said Leroy, “I doubt any of us will live long enough to squeal on you, give us your best shot.”

“Hey, positive thinking,” said Captain Onyx.

“Well… you know Private Gingko?” said Dex.

“What? Jasmine Gingko?” yelled Leroy, who snapped out of his frightened days, “The gothic sniper?”

“Whoa, Dexter… didn’t see that coming,” said Clara.

“Hey, hey. I was just saying… I don’t really have a, you know, I-I don’t think that even if I did, which I’m not saying-”

“Hey, cut it out, guys,” said the Captain, “We all have our differences, there’s nothing wrong with anything about Corporal King’s-”

“P-Please! Sir, no…” yelled Dex.

Some chuckling went around the group, and Leroy shook his head.

“Ain’t that a story for the bunks, eh Dex?” said Leroy.

“I hope you die…”

“Silence, humans!”

The sudden draw to attention made Ruben get into a firing position, down on one knee scoping the landscape. They were considerably close at this point, Ruben hadn’t kept an eye on how actually close they were, and missed them come up almost on it. They were on a small hill overlooking what appeared to be a courtyard. It was wiped clean of all plant life. The Elvidions had set up a position to watch the area.

Only one or two Warglers walked, or skulked, around the place, and a few Drones fought near the front door. Other then that the place looked relatively clean of Gilgathons.

“Ok, what’s our best shot in?” asked Captain Onyx.

“The front gate,” exclaimed Rebuz.

“Na-ha-oh!” yelled Leroy.

“Shhh!” said Clara.

“Sorry,” chimed in Dex, “Hacked L.E.W. layouts of the early temple show the only way in from the surface is the front gate but early buildings of the temple could have other passages buried by countless years.”

“He is correct,” said Rebuz.

“What about those,” asked Clara, pointing toward the holes in the ground and on the walls and sides of the temple.

“What, in the holes those creatures live in?” shot back Leroy.

“He’s right, I wouldn’t chance a close quarter battle like that,” said Captain Onyx.

“I agree,” said Rebuz, “Besides, it would be much easier for us to find the queen’s chamber if we went with our map, those beasts’ tunnels are not a part of the original structure.”

“I figured as much,” said Captain Onyx with sarcasm.

“So, what are we going to do?” asked Leroy.

“The front gate is the only way,” said Rebuz again.

“You humans didn’t expect us to get in without a fight, did you?” asked Biozard.

“No,” sighed Leroy, “but boy did I wish it.”

“Enough,” said Captain Onyx, “Look, we know that’s the best way for us to go, so we’re going in, and we know there’s going to be a lot of fighting, but my question is how and where. Number one, where the hell is all the Gilgathons?”

“I share your unease, human,” said Biozard, “Tork, this place was supposed to be filled with the wretched beasts.”

“I do not know where they are,” said Rebuz, “but I pray we will not find out soon. Quickly, we burn daylight and precious time.”

“Over there,” said Clara.

She looked up from her sniper scope and pointed into the distance. Beside the opening to the large temple, there was a small, beaten down path at the side leading to the “porch” that ran along the front of the temple.

“We could use that instead of going through the courtyard,” she said.

“And so we shall,” said Captain Onyx, “Ok, guys, let’s move out.”

Ruben stood, and followed the Elvidions along the side of the ledge overlooking the courtyard. He looked around his surroundings, looking for movement in the courtyard. All he saw was the Warglers roaming the courtyard and the rest of his father’s team following behind him. He strained his ears, trying to get every noise he can. He heard what he classified as, the Warglers and the fighting of the Drones by the door. He heard Leroy mumbling something in the back of the group, and one of the Elvidions, the one who didn’t talk much, Elrond he thought his name was, mumbling in their soft, fluid like language. He also heard, what he thought was the sound of distant engines. Like that of an aircraft of other such vehicle. He knew the others couldn’t hear it, for he could barely hear it.

He shrugged it off, seeing it as another distraction for the task at hand. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. He tried to prep himself for, what he figured would be, certain death. He tried to think of all the people who would be safe because of this, all the millions of people who would survive, all the soldiers who wouldn’t die fighting. Another thought also slipped into his mind; if the L.E.W. were no longer busy fighting the Gilgathons, then they’d have more time and manpower to fight the Hand of God. He wondered if he should bring this up, but he shrugged it off, seeing as he most likely wouldn’t live long enough to feel the effects of his action.

He was snapped back into reality when he almost ran into the back of one of the Elvidions, he couldn’t tell which because they all looked alike in their giant battle suits. Within the short time Ruben had been thinking, they had made it around to the side. He looked up at the temple; it towered over the group, casting a small shadow that engulfed the group.

Ruben felt a tap on his shoulder. His father had walked passed him to walk alongside the Elvidions, who had already started down the path stealthily. Ruben brought up his assault rifle and swept the land. Clara stayed behind as much as possible, only seeing through her scope. Leroy was barely in front of her, nervously flinching at every sound.

Rebuz reached the corner of the temple, first. He poked around, his rifle pointed down the way, and he rose and walked steadily toward the door. Captain Onyx quickly filled in step behind him, and then the other two Elvidions followed behind him. Ruben slipped in behind them.

Ruben saw the Gilgathons way before they were spotted, but he never saw or understood quiet what happened next, it happened so fast. A gun barrel flashed by Ruben’s head, and he closed his eyes and his right ear rang. A Gilgathon fell, shot in the head. Then Rebuz opened up a couple of rounds, downing two others while Captain Onyx filled the last Drone full of bullets, and he fell.

It was then quiet, besides Ruben still could swear he heard those engines, despite his ear ringing. It seemed he was not alone, because as a couple Drones and the Warglers started running toward their position everyone else looked around.

Ruben didn’t have time to say anything as the sound of engines was very clear, and a shadow was cast over the courtyard. A L.E.W. transport aircraft slowly descended, facing the temple walls. Ruben’s jaw dropped as the drop ship’s gun aimed toward them, as the drop ship hovered before them.

“Just…slowly raise your hands… and make no sudden… moves,” said Captain Onyx.

“But they’re humans,” said Biozard, “Don’t they know not to shoot.”

“Don’t be foolish, Biozard,” said Rebuz, “We all studied this far in human antics.”

Ruben missed the disgusted glance Clara gave Rebuz, but didn’t miss the middle finger Leroy spent a lot of effort making at the transport.

“You ass holes, we’re not the bad guys!” Leroy yelled.

The drop ship hovered a second longer, before rotating around slowly, facing the courtyard. Its gun opened up, spraying bullets across the courtyard. Drones and Warglers alike fell victim to its power. Then the transport turned so one of its side doors was facing the group.

“I leave you guys alone for a day or so and you guy were gonna start the party without me?”

After the voice was done speaking over the radio, the drop ship’s door opened wide. As the light streamed in, five soldiers stepped out of the drop ship, and a second L.E.W. Drop Ship swooped down and dropped a group of soldiers into the courtyard.

“McCoy?” asked Captain Onyx.

“That’s Sergeant McCoy to you,” said the sergeant, as he puffed on a brand knew cigar.

“What are you doing here?” asked Leroy, sheepishly.

“We’re saving the damn world, what the hell do you think?” said the sergeant.

“We couldn’t leave you hanging,” said Frank, as he walked up to Clara, smiling.

“You’re late, you prick,” she said, smiling back, “You never should have left.”

“Thanks for coming back,” said Ruben.

“How’s it going big guy,” said the sergeant to Rebuz.

“Better, but why do you help us?” asked Rebuz.

“Because you have it easy,” said Frank.

“Sergeant,” said a man over the radio, who sounded like the pilot of the drop ship, “How are you going to explain this to command, are you sure about ditching?”

“That if this don’t work, they’re gonna need a hell of a lot more than two squads of marines to defeat these alien freaks!” said the sergeant.

With that, the drop ship tipped off and flew away. The marines in the courtyard had already started fighting a bunch of Gilgathons that had sprouted out of the tunnels in the ground.

“What do they mean, ‘deserting’,” asked Ruben, “Your command didn’t authorize this?”

Sergeant McCoy sighed, rubbing his face slightly.

“The reason why it’s so empty here is because all the Gilgathons have moved out, they’re all attacking us. We were on our way to a major battle when we decided we needed to help you,” said McCoy, “If this fails, thousands will die and the planet will probably fall.”

“Then there is no time to waste,” said Rebuz, “Come, the beasts know we’re here. They can probably hear the commotion.”

“Then they must love the smell of whoop-ass,” said the Sergeant, “Go on, you guys do your thing, we’ll deal with the heavy lifting.”

“Good luck, Sergeant,” said Captain Onyx.

“Yeah, see yeah,” said Leroy, sheepishly.

“Yeah, and we’ll talk about that cracka-ass bird you decided to flip us later,” said the Sergeant, then he ran toward a drone who had made it onto the “porch” and drew his shotgun from his back and aimed it at the drone.

The drone never brought his shredder to bear as McCoy blew off its head with one shotgun blast. He then slammed the butt of his shotgun into another drone’s belly and cocked another round into the chamber. He quickly pulled the shotgun back into firing range and blew another round into its stomach.

With that, he and the three other marines ran into the courtyard and starting fighting the Gilgathons.

“Wow… he… really…,” stuttered Leroy.

“I’m starting to believe all his stories now,” said Captain Onyx.

“Yeah,” said Frank, “Me too.”

“Come,” said Rebuz, as he rammed his shoulder into the front door, opening it up hard, and he and the Elvidions rushed inside.

Captain Onyx followed without a second thought, and Ruben hurried into the temple. He took a last glance at Sergeant McCoy and his marines, fighting off the Gilgathons, as he jogged into the depths of the temple. Then, the door shut again, casting them into an eerie darkness.

Ruben flipped on his light on his rifle, and swept the hallway. It was almost unrecognizable. At first, you could still see the stone and markings that resembled the cavern Ruben had vacated the day before. It quickly turned into a slimy, gooey mess that was all over the walls and floors, and eventually it became as if the hall was made out of this stuff.

“Ugh,” coughed Leroy, “what is this stuff?”

“I don’t know, Terkins,” said Captain Onyx, “but it’s disgusting.”

Ruben took a couple steps forward, but saw movement in the distance. He dropped to one knee and aimed his rifle, only to get it pushed toward the ground by a large arm. Ruben looked up to see
Rebuz standing over him.

“These creatures mean us no harm; we’ll need our bullets for bigger threats.”

Ruben looked again, and recognized the strange creature from the tunnel, the one carrying the strange red light. This one, though, carried nothing, and an empty space lay in the middle of its body.

It turned without a second glance and scuttled away from the intruders, unaffected by they’re presence. The group seemed to follow it through a small door like hole, into the next chamber.

The place was crawling with the creatures; they scuttled about here and there. Fresh slime was secreted all over the walls and floor. The room was very big, as it extended out, and up into a cavern like ceiling. It also spiraled down to a pool of a murky liquid, and more slime. But that was not what Ruben concentrated on. All around the chamber, especially in the pool of liquid, there were eggs. Giant eggs, about a little bigger then Ruben.

Leroy made a sound of disgust as he examined one. Captain Onyx walked over and touched one, studying it.

“W-what are these?” asked Frank.

“Eggs…” answered Captain Onyx.

“Gilgathon Eggs,” said Ruben, as if in a daze.

Ruben then observed that some of the spider like things held eggs, transporting them from area to area.

“Ugh,” said Leroy, as he walked up to one and shined his gun’s flashlight in one, clearly showing the outline of a Drone.

The drone moved inside the egg and Leroy jumped back suddenly, surprised. He fired at the egg, sending rounds of bullets through the egg shell and through the drone’s body. The egg burst, juices spilling over the floor and the drone body hitting the ground with a loud thump. It didn’t move, but Leroy still held his gun at it, ready to fire if it even twitched. Rebuz walked over and placed a hand on
Leroy’s shoulders.

“Ease your trigger, human,” said Rebuz, “These beasts are no threat to us, and will die soon enough. Save your ammunition.”

“Maybe not to us, but to our boys on the front lines another batch of these things is another 400 dead,” said Frank, “We should kill all these things now”

“I share in the human’s enthusiasm,” said Biozard.

“No, the explosion will deal with spawn, we must deal with the matured,” concluded Rebuz, and he continued down the spiral ramp down toward the unknown pool of liquid.

“What if it doesn’t,” asked Clara.

“Do not underestimate the power of the crystal,” said Ruben, “These guys know what they’re doing.”

“Well said, human,” said Biozard.

Rebuz was the first to wade through the unknown muck, scanning the area unaffected by the pool. Captain Onyx soon followed, with the others. Ruben barely noticed the dampness as another egg moved nearby. Rebuz seemed to have been heading toward a path where those small creatures were carrying eggs from. As they entered the area, Ruben saw four paths. Rebuz looked at each of the paths, and then seemed to sink downward.

“W-what?” asked Leroy.

“The beasts have changed the structure,” said Rebuz, “This is not on our records.”

“So now we do it our way,” said Captain Onyx, “Pick a path and keep in touch.”

“No, we must not be separated,” said Rebuz.

“It’ll give us more of a chance of finding the queen,” said Captain Onyx.

“But, sir, it’ll give them more of a chance to find us,” said Leroy, “And kill us.”

Ruben was about to agree with Leroy when a gurgling rumble was heard down one of the passages. Then a few of the insect-like creatures came scuttling out of the path to Ruben’s right, and the rushed into the room they had just vacated and started meddling with some eggs.

“I’ll bet she’s that way,” said Captain Onyx, pointing down the passage.

“Then we go forward,” said Rebuz, and he stepped down the narrow passageway, the others slowly following.


Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:58 pm
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Ace Trainer
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Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 11:09 am
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Location: Hiding Out Until Things Cool Down...
Chapter 18
The Queen’s Chamber



Ruben ducked his head as he emerged from the passage and looked about the large room they had entered. He had to shield his eyes a bit, for there seemed to be a strange increased amount of light.

He was in a large room, completely covered in the goop they had seen, leaving no evidence of the Elvidion structure underneath. It was large and circular, with what appeared to be a ramp circling around, down toward some unknown depth and to level’s above where Ruben stood. Immediately in front and around where Ruben could see were the massive Gilgathon eggs and the insect Gilgathons crawling around carrying them.

Rebuz and Elrond slowly made they’re way toward the edge of a massive hole that seemed to fill the room in front of Ruben as Captain Onyx helped the others through into the chamber. Ruben walked forward and looked down into the hole.

He saw it went, about, 2 more floors down. The spiral didn’t make any knew “rooms” like the one Ruben currently stood on but it did spiral down onto the floor below. Everywhere the eggs seemed to be spewed down below. Between them, the insect-like creatures scuttled around. Patrolling around the eggs and the treasure was a few Drones; they wore even more sophisticated armor, adding some sort of leather hat for head gear and padding added around the torso and limbs. Some of the insect-like Gilgathons held buckets and cauldrons filled with different material and supplies. It reminded Ruben of some sort of primitive attempt at modernization. He wondered if that was the way they had been making their primitive, yet effective weapons.

But out of all the things in the room, only one thing completely caught Ruben’s attention. The Queen.

The only reason he knew it was the queen was its sheer size. It looked like some sort of gigantic grub, long but very fat. It didn’t show any apparent legs, put three sets of small leg/ claw like things were up close by its head. Its head was almost completely attached to its body. Three sets of small eyes were located right above one set of much larger eyes, all of which were black as the night. It had two giant mandibles that covered a gaping hole that acted as a mouth. Its greenish-brown saliva dripped from its jaw as it let out a blood churning grumble again. Its body seemed to grumble and its back end seemed to belch slightly. The back end slowly spewed out another egg, which Ruben noted was slightly larger then many others.

After that, Ruben took another look around and realized that many of the eggs were different sizes, and some even varying in shades of color. Ruben figured this to mean a varying in species or gender.

He felt a hand on his shoulder as he turned to see his father looking down at the scene.

Frank whistled as he approached the side and said, “That is one ugly bug.”

“But it’s a big bug, “said Clara, “There for, it needs to go.”

“The royal guards are heavily armed,” said Biozard.

Elrond said something in Elvidion but was interrupted by Frank saying, “Don’t worry, we got your back as you plant that stupid thing.”

“It is not that easy,” said Rebuz, “We are thankful for your assistance and bravery, humans, but this is our fight and ours alone. We do not believe you should die for this. Please, your last chance of survival could be to turn back now.”

Captain Onyx nodded his head, then turned around and started heading down the ramp.

“We’ll plant the crystal,” he said, “Then we’ll all go home.”

With that, Rebuz seemed to nod inside his suit and follow Captain Onyx down.

“I’ll keep a sniping guard from here,” said Clara, “you guys keep your heads down.”

“Let’s do this,” said Frank, “OPEN FIRE!”

The Drones below barely had time to wonder where the yell came from before they were either running or ducking for cover or they were shot in the head and through the chest. Frank had opened fire and let a grenade shoot from a grenade launcher on his Assault Rifle as he ran down the ramp. Biozard and Elrond had also opened fire, causing many eggs down below to explode and they hit a lot of other Drones.

When Ruben hit the end of the ramp, he ducked behind an egg before he aimed and shot a Drone who had peeked out to look for the attacked. Ruben’s burst hit the creature, but soared pass and sunk into the carapace of the queen. The queen gave out a hurt and surprised roar and it reared up to let it soar into the cavern.

The earth shook slightly under Ruben’s boots but he didn’t have time to care as he aimed at his next target, who was one of the first to begin firing back at the attackers. Though the eggs provided close to no cover, the Drones seemed reluctant to damage them. The Elvidions and Ruben’s group, however, were more then happy to put a few rounds through them to hit their targets.

Drones seemed to poor in from other tunnels and passage to help. Few were at all close to being helped by armor like the original Drones, and some weren’t even armed. A select few seemed to have come fresh out of the egg and they berserked their way toward the attackers. Ruben had very little effort firing at them, but he soon found himself farther up then his companions. He had systematically moved up in cover to better attack the Drones. He looked around, seeing that the others were a bit farther back. He heard a crack of a sniper rifle and acknowledged that Clara still helped them from above.

He noticed that the Elvidions had also moved forward, and Rebuz now used the queen’s back end has cover, almost ready to plant the crystal. Rebuz looked slightly toward Ruben and nodded, Ruben nodded back and he pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it.


Rebuz pulled the crystal out of the back container. It slowly pulsed its light. He smiled, he had made it!

“We must continue, Tork,” said Elrond, “We will hold the onslaught back.”

Rebuz hitched his Twilight Sword to the back of his suit and he grabbed hold to the Gilgamite Queen. He lighted himself onto the creature, which breathed hard and roared in fury. He continued to climb slightly up the creatures back as sharp pieces of led and steel from the beasts’ weapons whizzed pass him and into the queen, who roared in pain.

“Move up, cover him!” yelled the human leader as the majority of the humans finally moved closer to better cover him.

Only the one human called Ruben proven great valor even to Elvidions. Rebuz wondered if maybe he had underestimated them, even though he had thought more of them then any other Elvidion. A round that pinged off Rebuz’s armor brought him back into the reality. He stopped climbing and steadied himself on the beast. The sounds of battle reminded him of the struggles below and he prepped the crystal.

He raised the crystal high in both hands and then brought it down hard into the carapace of the queen. The crystal sunk in deep into the queen, as the creature gave another yelp of discomfort. Rebuz pulled out the detonator, a small box with a sticky paste on the back.

As Rebuz started typing on the touch screen/holo pad he heard a distinctive crack and saw a trail of some sort of smoke in the corner of his eye. Then one of the humans yelped in pain and started screaming. Rebuz turned around to see one of the humans had been hit in their right shoulder; he lay on the ground trying to crawl for cover. The others desperately searched around and tried to get closer to him. Rebuz turned to look for the source; he scanned one of the ledges one floor up from where the queen was. There knelt a Gilgamite unlike any other. Rebuz remembered this species from the archives, a warrior that made even Drone Elites look wimpy.

The beast held an elongated rifle with a scope on it. It wore full clothing, made of hard leather and chain mail. Its body armor was made out of iron; same with the full face helmet it wore that hide the creature’s face. On its back was a regular Gilgamite “shredder” and on its side was the Gilgamite side arm, dubbed the Grinder by the humans. The beast seemed to have nodded toward Rebuz, and then it brought the rifle up to its shoulder and aimed it at Rebuz.

Rebuz didn’t have time to react before the rifle cracked again and another round soared toward Rebuz. Rebuz didn’t have time to duck as the round ricocheted off of his armor. Rebuz smiled and not being damaged. He looked to continue to type on the detonator, but saw that it was broken. The round had ricocheted into the detonator, destroying it. Rebuz snarled inside his suit and tossed the broken detonator away, looking for a spare. He found no spare on him.

Rebuz slid down the creature and landed on the ground, drawing his Twilight Sword and firing towards where the creature was. The creature ducked behind the cavern wall and disappeared. Rebuz sighed at missing his chance to kill the beast.

“Elrond, Biozard, do either of you carry a spare detonator?” he yelled.

“Negative,” yelled back Biozard.

“What happened?” answered Elrond.

“The detonator was hit,” said Rebuz, “We have no way to set off the crystal!”


Ruben ducked as another bullet whizzed past him, hitting an egg and causing it to explode. He listened to the ruckus around him and looked for the Gilgathon sniper who had hit Leroy. Leroy, being as he is, was totally blowing the wound out of proportion.

“I can’t shoot, I’m hit!,” he yelled, “I can’t fight back, they’re going to eat me! Help, help captain! Don’t leave me here!”

Captain Onyx had pulled out one of the only med packs they had and tried to help Leroy. The others, being Ruben and Frank, had backed up to defend Captain Onyx from attackers. Ruben looked toward the Elvidions; Rebuz had finished planting the crystal. Then Rebuz headed over toward them.

“We ready to go?” asked Ruben.

“Not quite, there is an error in the process,” answered Rebuz.

“What? What error?” yelled Frank.

“We no longer have means to detonate the crystal,” said Rebuz.

“What? B-but why?” asked Leroy.

“What would it take to set off the crystals?” asked Captain Onyx.

“Without a detonation device? It would take a strong force of great magnitude”

“Like a grenade?” said Rebuz.

“Like a grenade? What the heck are you thinking, kid,” yelled Clara over the radio, “Even if that would work we’d have no time to get out!”

“Would these work?” asked Captain Onyx, pulling out two C4 plastic explosives packs.

“Your explosives might do the trick,” said Rebuz, “but the detonators for them wouldn’t have the range required.”

“How do we get out of here?” asked Leroy, in a slight daze from loss of blood.

A bullet hit an egg close by and made it explode that reminded Ruben that a fight was still going on. He turned and shot two Drones trying to make their way closer.

“Leroy’s got a point,” said Clara over the radio again as she shot another round into a Drone’s head, “How do we get out of here?”

Just then one of the eggs hatched, releasing a large bird-like Gilgathon. Ruben had not recognized a species like this yet, and by the looks of it, neither did anyone else. Then Ruben saw that the egg was by some sort of cavern, which Ruben guessed led to the outside.

“Well I’ll be…” said Frank.

“I take it we fly out of here, then,” said Captain Onyx.

“Good, hand me the explosives,” said Rebuz, “I will stay behind, and detonate the crystals, it is the only way.”

“No,” said Captain Onyx, “We’re all getting out of here alive.”

Captain Onyx picked up Leroy and rushed over to the Gilgathon bird like thing while the other covered. When they got there, He tied a strap around the creature and fastened it to the ground. The creature then tried to fly off, but couldn’t. It hit the ground, and desperately tried to get away.

“Hurry,” yelled Clara, as she ran down the ramp towards them, “Before that thing comes back!”

“That thing is a Hunter,” said Frank, “They’re very rare, very deadly.”

“Yes, I heard rumors about those,” said Captain Onyx, “I knew if I ever saw one it would probably be the day I die.”

As he said that, he jabbed a hook into the creature, and fastened a life rope around it and tied Leroy to it. He did the same for himself as the others set up ones for them. All except Rebuz had fastened themselves in.

“Come on,” yelled Captain Onyx.

“No,” yelled Rebuz, firing a few rounds toward the Gilgathons,” I will stay and detonate the device. Your detonators won’t make it through the temple walls. Why don’t you think your radio hasn’t worked?”

Then Ruben thought that he was right, they haven’t really gotten any word from Dex since they entered the temple, nor Sergeant McCoy.

Captain Onyx nodded, then walked up to Rebuz and unclipped his life rope and held it out to Rebuz.

“Then you take it,” he says, “I’ll stay behind.”

“No,” said Rebuz, “This is my mission, my fate. This world still has use for you. Your race needs you.”

Captain Onyx looked toward Ruben, who fired a few shots into a Drone. Ruben caught his eye, and a puzzled look developed on his face.

“This world is done with me,” he said, “It’s time a new hero steps up. It is you who has not yet fulfilled your races tasks.”

“I shall not leave this temple,” said Rebuz, “My tomb. Now go, foolish human. Give me the explosives and save yourself. You’ll never make it.”

Captain Onyx stared at Rebuz, who had opened his visor to stare into the human’s eyes. He nodded and smirked a bit.

“Thank you,” was all Captain Onyx said.

He leaned in and embraced Rebuz, who was shocked. Rebuz shrugged it off as a human custom.

Then, in a blink of an eye, Captain Onyx clipped his life rope to the back of Rebuz’s suit. He quickly stepped back and, before Rebuz could react, he shot the rope holding the flying beast down. Rebuz’s face showed the closest thing an Elvidion could show to human amazement as the flying beast took two steps and flew off down the cavern.

Ruben’s eyes widened and he reached out to his father and yelled, “No!”

Rebuz felt the tug on the life rope as he was jerked back. He watched the human stand and wave as he was dragged down the cavern then quickly upward.


Captain Onyx watched as they left, the creature flew upward, hopefully toward safety. Captain Onyx felt the warmth of a tear as it rolled down his cheek.

“Good-bye,” he whispered, “my son.”

Then he turned and brought his rifle to his shoulder and jogged toward the queen. He shot off a few shots into Gilgathon Drones, but he didn’t let them slow him down as he leapt onto a smaller egg, then onto a larger one, then onto the queen. He quickly crawled up onto the queen as he reached the glowing crystal in the queen’s back.

As he reached it, the queen reared up, and let out a horrific screech. A beam of blue light suddenly shot from its mouth up into the roof of the temple, out into an unknown area. Captain Onyx ignored it as he planted the C4 on the crystal and placed his last two grenades by them, too.

He turned around in time to shoot three drones in the head as they aimed up at him. He had just grabbed the detonator out of his pocket when he heard a crack, then a sharp pain in his leg. He yelled and felt himself slide down the queen’s back and hit the floor, hard.

He got up and fired at a couple drones that were close by. Then, as one drone fell, he saw him. The Hunter was menacingly walking toward Captain Onyx. It had a throaty sound protruding from the mask that seemed to be laughter. As it got closer, it pointed at Captain Onyx.

“You’re world,” it said, in a deep menacing voice, “is at an end!”

“Oh yeah?” said Captain Onyx, “shame you won’t be around to see it.”

With that, Captain Onyx raised his hand, and hit the detonator. Then he closed his eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief as heat consumed his body.


Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:14 pm
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