In times of crisis there are two kinds of people. There is the kind of people who would do whatever it takes within their power to win, to clamber to the top, taking whatever glory and honor it comes with it. Even if it means stepping all over one's own comrades to do so. Then, there are those people who are righteous, wanting to uphold their morals even at the cost of the battle or even at the cost of their own lives. They care for nothing but to help those in need. On a broken world such as Earth, people are no longer fighting only for mere resources but for their own lives. From the death and destruction, rose people of moral stature. They long not for power, but for the prosperity of humankind as a whole. They are the salvation of the wastelands. They are the Ancient Legends.
SkyLab2 was meant to be a science station and was built like one. There was no armor or any proper hard-points to install weapons, thus the installation of said weapons was particularly tedious.
This time, Clanedd, the Head Engineer's assistant, was given the opportunity to helm the given project.
'Just bolt the turret platforms on, how hard can that be?' Or so Saegen said. Clanedd's thoughts kept straying to what the scientist had said mere minutes ago.
She floated around issuing orders to the engineers and answering the same questions on topics such as 'where to put that' and 'how to install that'. Even though she was out only for 15 minutes, she was already exhausted.
Moving around in EVA was not as easy as it looked, Clanedd thought to herself as she stared blankly at the holographic screen generated by her RIG.
Her gaze wandered and settled onto Earth. The dusty brown ball sitting towards her right together with the sun just to the left of it. It was sunrise along the orbit path of SkyLab2 and the rising sun illuminated the planet's thin atmosphere with a reddish blue hue. It certainly looked beautiful, Clanedd thought to herself, even in spite of the fact that the planet could no longer harbor life. If only that lifeless sphere of dust could become green again like that described in English literature...
"Umm, ma'am? Are you alright?" spoke a voice through her comms. A fellow engineer floated up to her.
Clanedd snapped out of her daydream, "...Yeah, I perfectly fine." She replied promptly with fresh instructions after which the engineer nodded and floated back to the construction site.
Clanedd's thoughts began to stray again but she put it back on track. She maneuvered herself over to the VLS platform mounted over Observatory Deck 12.
Sitting within the deck was a lone man. He was wearing a white lab coat over a plain black shirt and on his lap was a cup of milk coffee. He took a sip and looked up towards Clanedd. She would have recognized that face anywhere.
He raised his left hand and waved. Clanedd's instinctively waved back, returning his smile. He put down his cup of coffee, stood up and pointed at Clanedd. Not at her directly but right over her left shoulder. He put his other hand to the side of his mouth and spoke. Clanedd could not hear him of course but the words formed upon his lips seemed to spell, 'spaceship'.
Clanedd turned around immediately and was faced by the sight of a massive structure floating before her. It was surprising that she did not notice it before.
The object was spherical and by estimation, it was probably about 1.2 km in diameter. Skylab2's record of being the largest space station was smashed by the colossal complex not only in terms of mass, but in sheer size as well.
In the center was a blue glass sphere and circling that were multiple silvery black pipes intertwining among themselves and around the main glass sphere. The sheer number of them almost completely obscured the inner glass sphere from view. It had no visible weapons mounted on its deck but it looked very dangerous.
Clanedd was stunned by the fact that nobody had ever noticed it before. Perhaps it only ever crossed SkyLab2's orbit path on that particular day or was recently built and sent up into orbit as a whole. Whatever it was, that was the first Clanedd ever saw it. She was even more so surprised when she saw the logo of the infamous ice cube painted on the outer hull of the structure.
So even those idiots know what they are doing, Clanedd thought to herself. If those insane people can accomplish such feats, then what are we... Her thoughts were interrupted by what seemed to be a shadowy figure standing within the sphere. He lifted both of his hands slowly, seemingly getting ready to issue an order to attack. Clanedd held her breath in. What was he going to do? Her mind raced. Holding his hands in the air for about 7 seconds, he began waving. Oh... Clanedd thought to herself disbelieved and rather embarrassed. I think I have a rough idea on who that guy was...She continued thinking to herself.
"I cannot believe it!" Clanedd heaved a sigh of exasperation while complaining to TKE.
"After I spent hours out there in a little space blimp, we have only managed to construct a single VLS. Not even one of those newly developed MAG turrets!"
TKE tried to calm the jumpy Clanedd down. "Relax. Relax. I know how you feel. However..."
He was immediately interrupted, "That's not the point!" TKE sighed.
Every time he tried to calm his deputy engineer down, his words would be immediately be intertwined with that of said engineer.
TKE sighed again. Sometimes, I really cannot understand women, he thought to himself. Quickly, he began speaking again.
"Um, why don't I take the project under my wings then? Perhaps that would make you feel better?"
"Like I said earlier, that is not the point here..." she said again.
Did she ever say that earlier? TKE's mind wandered and was forcefully brought back with Clanedd's whining.
"For once I could have been of use to NanoTec but I did not do as well as sir would have expected! *Blah blah blah*"
Clanedd continued. Ah, NanoTec. Ever since we went down to the planet to visit ICY, that name stuck...TKE thought to himself while keeping his mouth shut. No words would cool the furious assistant engineer down now. At best, would make her keep yelling for another five minutes. TKE sighed for the nth time. This is going to take a while, he thought to himself.
The head engineer floated around in his EVA suit around the station, NightStalker MAG (Magnetic Acceleration Gun) slung across his back.
Today was not going very well, thought TKE and for a good reason too. He had to sit, or rather stand through the worst three hours of his week listening to Clanedd complain and Saegen had come by just after Clanedd left and had him take care of his "toy" before going to take baryon radiation readings with Claev near the poles of the planet.
This time, he replaced Clanedd as the overseer of the defense operation project as she was on break. The first MAG Cannon had already been built and the 2nd VLS was almost to full operational status.
"I do not see what made it so difficult for her to do this..." TKE mumbled to himself while gesturing and making hand signs towards his engineers on where to go.
He was about to maneuver himself towards the construction site when he noticed something pop up on the HUD of his RIG. Little red dots surrounded by grey partial circles denoted the unknown contacts.
It was not space debris, but something approaching up from the horizon situated over what used to be Poland. He brought the NightStalker'sscope to his right eye and looked through. TKE's eyes widened. He knew that sight anywhere.
Through the electronic scope, the image of six EarthGov destroyers immediately appeared. Their famous or rather infamous ring-shaped rear portion was seen easily and their combustion engines were burning at full power. All but one of them had a hammerhead shaped front, and had their center/mission section decked out with many steel scaffolding and struts. Mounted on this scaffolding were four circular shaped pods tipped with what seemed to be laser drills. Boarding pods. The final ship had a standard "number 7" like front and had a single white disk spinning slowly mounted on the spine of the ship. The command ship, also known as the "Squadron CNC" among EarthGov personnel.
The ships began spreading out into a horizontal line formation, similar to that of tanks besieging a fortified position.
"Sir?!" one of his engineers called out worriedly.
TKE gulped once. "Get all of the men back into SkyLab2!"
The engineer remained silent, looking fazed.
"What are you waiting for? Go!"
The engineer snapped back to his senses, he nodded his head and he brought his left hand to his neck to initiate the communication sequence.
TKE turned his head back towards the approaching destroyers.
"Distance 240km... Relative velocity, 121 m/s and rising..."
He flipped the switch on the MAG rifle in his hands to charge mode. The rifle inaudibility hummed to life. The ships closed in even faster onto the lone space station. Their distance shrank rapidly.
TKE brought the NightStalkerto his shoulder and rested it there comfortably. The tip of the barrel shook with each breath taken by the head engineer. He took another breath and held it. Electrical arcs were flying across the surface of the gun as it went into overcharge.
TKE's brain raced. Calculations. Distance, relative velocity, solar wind, minute of angle, parabolic correction, etc... He smiled.
"Gotcha!" and pulled the trigger.
A dazzling flash and countless electric sparks erupted from the mouth of the barrel as the gun shot backwards deeply into TKE's shoulder and he squeezed his eyes, grimacing with pain from the massive recoil.
The metal slug of was hurled forth at many times the speed of sound, creating a semi-visible wake in its path. It closed the gap at a blinding speed and buried itself deep into the hull of one of the pod carriers.
Within seconds, the spine of the 90m long destroyer cracked under the massive impact and hull plating were sent flying in all directions. All its precious oxygen rushed out into space taking a few men with it.
A steel beam was blasted directly off the surface of the ship and struck the neighboring command ship on its spinning disk. The fibreglass disk shattered into a thousand pieces and was ripped clean off the mission section.
Both ships were rendered inoperable and disabled. Double kill! TKE chuckled. He would have pumped his fist if he were not clutching his dislocated right shoulder.
His RIG then made a 'ding' noise, indicating that the station based defenses he was uplinked to were powering up, and ready to begin firing.
The VLS modules were not loaded yet as missiles were difficult to produce and expensive, but the MAG cannon was already loaded and charging.
Magnetic rails are not fussy weapons. Anything small enough and ferromagnetic would do the trick. Considering the many screws, fragments of previous launches, space junk in orbit, ammunition was abundant and plentiful.
Using his free left hand, TKE began pressing the many buttons on his RIG holographic display, all while maneuvering himself into a small, sheltered corner of the space station where he could see clearly and be protected from shrapnel at the same time.
"If a hand-held weapon could do that much damage, I really wonder what this thing can do..." TKE laughed to himself as he pressed the big red button on his RIG's display.
If TKE could hear through the vacuums of space, he would have heard the enormous thunder of the MAG cannon firing its very first shot.
EarthGov ships were built out of ceramic to shield them from heat based weaponry ever since the first alien incursion. There was nothing a few layers of brittle clay could do against a speeding 20 centimeter diameter, railgun slug flying at 14 times the speed of sound.
This time it's target was another pod carrier destroyer. The shell hit its mark directly on the hammerhead section on the front and literally ploughed through the entire ship, exiting from an engine exhaust port slightly to the left of the initial entry point.
Needless to say, the entire ship, ring and all were shredded, torn apart and looked nothing like its original form. Nobody could have survived that. All that remained was a new cloud of space debris. TKE silently prayed that the SkyLab2's whipple shielding could take the damage from the stray debris heading for it.
The MAG cannon fired again shaking the whole station with its recoil. TKE felt it behind him but kept himself steady. Another ship down, he thought to himself. If a single defensive turret could do so much, then what about twenty?
TKE smiled with glee at the thought as he huddled behind a protrusion from the station. There was no time to reenter SkyLab2 at that rate. The vibrations of the single MAG cannon firing was jarring, even from where TKE was standing. That gave a very significant insight on the potential of the technology in use.
Peaking out of cover, TKE noted that four of the EarthGov ships had been neutralized. The last remaining two pod carriers, without the command ship, began to break formation. Their maneuvering seemed panicked and highly uncoordinated. Much like if one allowed a rampant artificial intelligence pilot a ferris wheel.
One of the ships suddenly began turning towards starboard, directly crossing the path of the second. Glints of sparks appeared as the two hulls made contact and exchanged paint.
The MAG cannon fired again, rippling through the station like a wave. The shot was perfectly lined up, penetrating the armor of the first and second destroyer. The ceramic hull fragments were soon flying all over the place, adding two more destroyer broken in two.
Despite the pain TKE unconsciously pumped his left hand, pleased with the performance. A computer's voice resounded through TKE's RIG.
"*All intruding ships eliminated. Initiating defensive platform, power down...Restoring level of minimal alert levels*"
TKE breathed a sigh of relief and satisfaction. Still clutching his injured right shoulder and NightStalker slung across his back, he slowly made his way to the airlock.
"N-New contact!" the radar operator's voice could be heard through the station's universal channel. That being said, TKE could also hear it, despite still being outside in EVA.
"Warship!" he continued in panic. "Corvette class, u-unknown! Bearing, 274 degrees, angle of depression 90 degrees! Closing in f-fast, distance 2 kilometers!"
TKE was dumbstruck. What?! Another ship?! His thoughts were interrupted by the radar man's frantic shouting.
"I don't know...The radar should have detected him..."
The sirens within the base began blaring again.
"Ah, damn it. Were those previous EarthGov ships just distractions?"
TKE swore to himself, "Without Claev and Saegen, looks like I am going to have to take charge...again."
TKE maneuvered himself to the underside of the station via magnetic boots. It was a difficult trek down as communications and infrastructure were scattered throughout the entire bottom half of the station.
When he did get there however, TKE saw the red vessel in question. It was corvette sized, more like a glorified shuttle than a destroyer. It had attached itself to the moderator site of one of the station's nuclear reactors obviously in preparation for boarding.
A brief estimation led TKE to conclude that the shuttle was at least 200 meters away from him. He raised NightStalker on instinct but almost immediately dropped it as pain shot through his right arm. Gun recoil repercussions were no joke.
There's no way I'm going to be able to pull off a shot like this. TKE thought to himself. Damn it! TKE looked around in half desperation. He wouldn't be able make it quickly to the airlock or to the shuttle to prevent an inevitable boarding of SkyLab2.
"What should I do? What should I…" TKE stopped his mumbling, interrupting himself. Something clicked in his mind as he turned and spotted Observation Deck 02. It's safety blast shutters had not been closed yet and the glass paneling was exposed. TKE smiled to himself.
Clanedd heard the alarms come on a second time. What's going on? She thought to herself. Weren't all the hostiles shot down already? She pulled herself to her feet and looked around. SkyLab2's lights had already flipped back to a crimson hue in anticipation for an engagement.
"All hands on deck, this is the security officer of sector 02 speaking. An enemy ship has gotten within boarding range. Security Protocol 051 is active as of now. Security teams 01 to 12, arm yourselves and get ready for combat."
The alert announcement came through shortly after. A dull metallic clang was heard from somewhere reverberating throughout the station.
"The enemy has attached themselves to "Fubuki" Reactor Core 03. All hands vacate the local area immediately!"
Clanedd's mind raced. That is my area! She confirmed with herself. She rushed to the door immediately and left the maintenance room.
Looking down both ends of the corridor, she noted that there was indeed the sound of thermite reacting coming from the reactor sectors. Quickly, Clanedd turned and ran down the corridor in the opposite direction.
The frigid air whipped her face as blast shutters came down literally meters behind her as she ran, turning one last corner, Clanedd found herself face to face with the security officer of sector 02. She could immediately see as he wore the number '02' on his right arm.
"Woah!" He backed away on instinct and reached for his sidearm which was not there. "Oh. It's just an engineer. What are you doing here? Did you not here the order to evacuate?"
"I did. That's what I am doing now." Clanedd replied half panting and resting her hands on her knees.
"You injured?" he reached his hand out. Clanedd shook her head.
"No. Where is the armory?"
"No Ma'am. That's not where you are supposed to go. Right now…"
"One cannot bear to sit around and do nothing while all his comrades are dying all around him. Correct?"
The security officer was dumbfounded and silent.
"I have to do something and after all, you need all the help you can get yes?"
"But…" he tried to protest but conceded in the end. "Yes. Ma'am. I understand. Follow me."
The security officer grabbed Clanedd's hand without another word and dashed off, almost dragging the deputy head engineer behind him. They arrived at the armory within the next minute and they immediately got to work.
The security officer pulled a M2 Combat handgun off the wall, and strapped on a combat vest over his uniform. An M24 Assault rifle was also taken by him and slung on his back.
Flicking a few switches on his RIG, his HUD began to display his ammunition count, his allies' vital signs and most importantly, his own health bar. The bar was blue and filled to the max. He was ready.
The security officer pulled off another M24 Assault rifle from the racks and tossed it to Clanedd which she skillfully caught with her two hands.
"You have basic gunnery training right?" Clanedd nodded, her cat hair clip bouncing up and down in agreement.
"Good. Don't die on me."
"Of course not. Neither should you… What's your name?"
"Elleno. It's just Elleno. Now, we don't have much time. Get a gas mask. It will protect you in case you get exposed to hard vacuum.
Clanedd acknowledged his suggestion and put on a gas mask on the way out. With that, the two made their way swiftly to the reactor sector.
Halfway there, something caught Clanedd's eyes. I am sure I something big and red towards my left... she thought to herself.
Stopping herself, she retraced her steps, looked towards her left and a big red button stared right back at her.
Labeled above the button, engraved in the steel plating were cyan blue etchings that read, "ICY Products: Self-Destruct Button. Press for fireworks! ;D"
Why didn't anyone notice this before?! She wondered. Luckily nobody did, or we would be traversing the endless void by now!
Elleno stopped and turned to see Clanedd idling. He tried to hurry her along but Clanedd held up her hand to tell him to keep quiet. The security officer obliged.
Taking out a notebook, Clanedd hastily scribbled on it and stuck the piece of paper over the button.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"Out of order" it read in rather untidy writing.
Clanedd conducted a quick inspection of her handiwork and acknowledged its approval with a short nod.
Suddenly a loud clang of what seemed like the outer hull section of SkyLab2 hitting the internal walls of the station, resounded through the corridors.
"Oh no. Please don't tell me that was the reactor shielding." Clanedd mumbled to herself as she put her right foot into the ground, kicking herself into full speed.
"Sorry Elleno." Clanedd yelled as she ran past said security officer. "I had to do something about the button."
Elleno turned behind him for a second before shrugging his shoulders and following Clanedd closely behind. There was a button? He thought to himself.
Running side by side, Elleno and Clanedd both made haste and arrived at the reactor sector in a minute.
The sound of gunfire and bullets deflecting off the walls filled the air, indicating that the fire fight had already begun.
Feeling a bullet whiz past him, Elleno ducked down on instinct and put his back against the wall. Next to him were, his fellow security team members crouching behind cover, suppressed by the boarder's continuous shooting. Clanedd followed suit
"Sir! Glad you showed up!" The security team 04's leader exclaimed.
A projectile ricocheted off the metal panel above his head and he ducked instinctively.
"There is one boarding craft, and from what we see, there are eleven men among them. They seem extremely well trained and armed. We advise caution."
Elleno nodded. He turned his head and looked around the wall. Staring back at him ten meters away was the black gun barrel of an unknown rifle.
The soldier holding the rifle was armored with a full life supported deep red battle suit chest piece and black gauntlets. His helmet was of similar red shade except for the polarized visor mounted on the front.
He did not look like an EarthGov soldier who usually used light grey and green. Elleno immediately reared his head back behind cover and the projectile missed him by mere millimeters from his face. It bounced off the wall with a sharp cling and onto the floor. It was a needle, just like that used in tranquilizers.
Elleno then pushed his rifle out of cover and fired blindly, letting the recoil of the rifle take his aim wherever it saw fit, pumping the entire corridor with lead.
Suddenly one of the security team members suddenly collapsed, needle puncturing his left shoulder. He did not scream or yell. He just...collapsed.
Firing his M24 from cover, the security team leader shouted.
"Suppression fire! Now!" Everyone within his squad stood up from their cover, hands on the trigger, only to be instantly cut down by the enemy's skilled marksmen.
"Ah shit! Come on!" The security team leader shouted in dismay.
"Everyone, fall bac.." His sentence was cut shot by a needle to his back.
Elleno took a step back instinctively. This time his enemies were not mere androids. They were thinking human beings.
"Fall back and regroup! We can't fight this spread out!"
Elleno shouted through the RIG communications as he backpedaled with his gun still facing the enemy, firing as he went.
Dashing back through the hallway with Clanedd and two other security members, Elleno could see the men clad in red pouring down after him.
Clanedd spun around on her heels, crouched down and emptied an entire magazine down the intruders' general direction.
One of them dropped immediately, clutching a hole through his pelvis and the rest of them rolled away and hunkered down behind an adjacent hallway.
Elleno gave a thumbs up to Clanedd and she nodded with a smile in return. The enemy was now suppressed, noted Clanedd. Time to finish them off.
Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out a high-explosive fragmentation grenade.
"Huh?! Where the hell did you get that from?!" Elleno and the two remaining security members gasped.
"Armory. I told you I was taking a few right Elleno?" Clanned replied as she began tugging at the pin.
"W-Wait! Don't use high explosives in the station, especially here with the glass windows and all..." However the grenade was already flying through the air.
The little device landed with a dull clang as it's hammer separated from the explosive unit. Within seconds, it erupted into a massive fireball, enveloping everyone in a bright light and shrouding them with a tremendous roar.
The large glass windows caught in the blast cracked and the internal air pressure of the station did the rest, fragmenting the window into glistering shards.
Every molecule of oxygen was instantly sucked out into the lethal vacuums of space along with two of the red clad intruders while they desperately tried to, but failing to grab onto anything.
The wind produced was so powerful, it threatened to tear everyone off their feet and into space.
Yelling, Clanedd shouted into her RIG.
"Emergency life support! Now!" Elleno and the other two security members did as instructed.
A full helmet with an oxygen supply was ejected from the RIG's collar and it folded itself onto the NanoTec personnel's heads. Matching gloves and boots also folded over their hands and shoes respectively, forming a fully air-tight seal over their bodies.
It was a new feature for the RIG that TKE developed himself about a week ago. Everyone, including Clanedd thought it would be useless. Who was laughing now?
All the air soon emptied from the hallway and the winds stopped as well. The enemy re-positioned themselves immediately and like an insect, one of the security members dropped to the needle to his right hip.
"Come on..." Elleno mumbled to himself as he fumbled with the control panel to the door which coincidentally led to the command section.
Clanedd emptied yet another magazine down the hallway and the gun thundered inaudibly. The intruders did not even bother to evade this time as Clanedd could barely control her centrifugal rotation about her centre of mass.
The door slid open and the air from inside, mixed with a few papers were blasted out immediately. Elleno pulled Clanedd by the shoulder and pushed her through.
Elleno then grabbed the last security personnel by the collar and raised him as a meat shield, against the latter's will before the aggressors.
He tried to protest but his voice faded away as expected before he crumpled to his knees and fell. There was a needle embedded in his knee and chest.
Elleno pushed the limp body of the guard away and maneuvered himself through the door. A needle glanced off his helmet with a cling and an unknown pale yellow fluid splattered over his visor. Whatever it was, Elleno was sure it was the unconsciousness inducing agent.
After throwing his rifle at the red-clad invaders and missing completely, Elleno smashed the door control panel with the handle of his pistol and the door slid shut.
Elleno heard the clanging of the needle projectiles striking the door. That was close. Elleno thought to himself as his helmet automatically folded back into his collar.
"What is our status?" Elleno asked aloud.
The personnel on the command deck, all of which were grabbing onto something in a successful attempt to prevent themselves from being vented out into space, responded immediately with panic stricken voices.
There was a flurry of answers. One of them was particularly clearer and louder, and as a result, stood out.
"Well… Umm… Damage wise, it is repairable. However..."
He was interrupted by a loud blast that shook the air. The door that the security officer came through flew off its motor and landed with a clang on the ground.
Seven of the intruders streamed into the room, guns ablaze. Elleno pulled Clanedd down and attempted to duck down behind one of the tables. Elleno suddenly felt a pain similar to that of molten metal being poured down his extremities course through his neck and based purely on instinct, he reached for the injury and pulled out a needle.
By then, his eyes felt heavy. Elleno's whole body went numb and colors of varying shades of red, blue and green swirled within his field of vision.
Elleno fell to his knees and as his eyes glazed over, he collapsed to the ground, letting the last drop of consciousness fade from his body.
Clanedd, having been pulled down under a table by Elleno, heard the desperate shouts and yells of what remained of the command staff as they were dropped systematically by the invaders.
Finally, the shooting stopped and silence ensued. Clanedd's face was flat on the cold and hard plastic floor and from the corner of her eye, she saw one of the red soldiers take off his helmet.
What was under it was the face of an old man. He had wrinkles over below his eyes and looks like he had seen better days. To Clanedd, he was a tall but thin man with brown hair who looked a little anxious. He kneeled down by one of the downed staff and spoke with a polite yet spine chilling voice.
"My, my. That was some resistance you guys put up."
Clanedd bit her lips and remained silent as she trembled in fear.
"We, Ancient Legends, usually do not lose more than one member during an assault. I want three extra hours on the schedules of those who survived."
"Yes sir."
Clanedd heard the soft echo of that old man walking too and fro. To put it simply, the experience was unnerving.
"So… What now Zeth?" Came a voice, a rather young one too.
"Oh please Vernon." 'Zeth' said. "You brought the ANEB? The Hand of God?"
"Err… Yeah. It's right here. See."
There was silence for a brief moment.
"Good. Bring it here please."
There was a sound of high pitched metallic clinking. Followed by the clatter of a glass tube on the floor.
"Don't drop it you idiot!" boomed a voice.
"Sorry. Sorry." 'Vernon' replied hastily.
More sounds of footsteps echoed around the command room. Clanedd still remained hurdled up under the table. They probably won't check. She reassured herself. They won't know…
"Caspar." 'Zeth' spoke in fluent Mandarin, EarthGov's official language. "Take this down to the shuttle bay. I'm sure this NanoTec has plenty around. You know what to do."
"Yes sir."
A set of footsteps began receding to the opposite end of the command room. The blast door at that end opened and suddenly, there was a yell and the flat thunk of someone's face being punched in.
Everyone present in the room who was not unconscious turned towards the scene. One individual in an engineering EVA suit stood obstructively in the door way.
A multitude of needles flew towards him in an instant and all of them struck home, embedding themselves in his EVA suit, each one with a dull thud on impact. Unexpectedly, he just stood there and stared at the needles before staring back at the red clad invaders.
"You know." He spoke in a very muffled voice. "They call this a T-296 RShield EVA Suit for a reason."
Slowly, he lumbered into the room. Slung on his back was the NightStalker prototype railgun. Clanedd's eyes widened. She knew immediately who that was.
"Alright." He spoke. "What do you idiots want from us."
"Want? Ha ha! Very funny but we don't want anything from you guys... Oh I forget to introduce ourselves. My name is Zeth, founder of Ancient Legends Inc. A pleasure."
The man in the EVA suit remained unfazed.
"I have read about you lot." EVA suit continued. "I am genuinely surprised you didn't just kill everyone there and then, so I guess I have to thank you for that."
Zeth remained silent and raised an eyebrow. He gestured to his men to lower their weapons, which they complied immediately.
"Now, explain."
"Straight to the point eh?" Zeth nodded. "Alright. We want to drop this on Earth."
Zeth held out a tubular metal and glass capsule that contained a green swirling concoction within it.
"That doesn't look very safe. Is that why you have to drop it from here?"
"Yes... And indeed it isn't… At least if you break it on a habitable planet. However, if you break it on a barren planet…"
A display screen in the command sector, obviously hacked, showed an image of the wrecked planet Earth.
"It will restore it's atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, sphere-sphere or what ever kind of sphere you wish to restore."
"Really?" EVA suit seemed skeptical. "If so, why didn't you goddamn ask us first damn it?!"
Zeth scratched his cheek. "Well… We were told by EarthGov that they lost contact with you lot and thus we thought that we won't be able to contact you through radio…"
"Goddamnit, and I thought Ancient Legends were smarter than that if not, at least smarter than ICY… And yes Clanedd, I can see you trembling there. You can come out now."
Clanedd cautiously peeked out from her hiding place under the desk. As soon as she emerged, she felt eight pairs of eyes settle upon her.
"Oh, I missed one?!" Zeth seemed to be in shock. "Four hours."
"Yes sir."
EVA suit folded his arms and although muffled, Clanedd could hear him sigh deeply.
"And thus, all the lives lost for nothing… How long does the tranquilizer last?"
"One hour, tops."
"Good. Now finish what you want to do and get out."
"Alright, alright." Zeth began. "Sorry…"
A few minutes passed and Zeth received a message through his radio communicator.
"ANEB is secure and ready to deploy sir."
"Excellent." Zeth replied. "Sir. Would you have the honor?"
He was obviously referring to EVA suit.
"You knew I was of high status? Well, I'll be damned and no. Go do it yourself."
"I can't force you after all and we don't have much time. The temporary airlock we placed on the door over there will not last. We have to make it quick."
"You mean you punctured the hull while you were at it?" EVA suit sighed again. "I'll add it to your tab."
Zeth ignored him. He then walked up to the command console and depressed a button. There was a sudden but dampened roar of a rocket engine from the shuttle bay and from the viewing console, EVA suit and Clanedd saw a NanoTec shuttle fly out from the bay at top speed and burned retrograde. Hard.
"That's another ten billion, Ancient Legend." EVA suit fumed.
Zeth looked at his suit watch and after five minutes, began counting.
"Three, two, one!" and with a blinding flash, the planet lit up like Christmas.
Zeth began laughing, "Ha Ha! We did it! We have done it!"
EVA suit and Clanedd looked up at the screen again and to their amazement, the Earth was now indeed turning green.
Spreading out from ground zero, the planet changed color like a shockwave emanating from a thermonuclear bomb.
The grass began to grow, and the oceans began filling with water again.
Zeth's face was plastered with a warm and friendly smile now. All traces of worry and anxiety vanished with the radiation on the planet.
EVA suit folded his arms again. "Well, if that was all you were going to do, then you really should have just asked."
Zeth nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I guess you're right. Even though this mission was meant to be top secret, ICY's deciphering technologies are not up to scratch after all."
"I'm glad you understand." EVA suit nodded. "Now remember you owe me… I mean NanoTec a good sum of money or an equivalent worth in materials."
"Alright. Can do. Come on now, let's go. We have done what we came to do."
Zeth extended an hand to EVA suit, which he took hold of shook.
Zeth spoke again. "Again, I am very sorry for our sudden intrusion. We will issue reparations as soon as we can."
EVA suit opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Zeth.
"Well, what's done is done. We shall take our leave now. Oh, and don't worry. The tranquilizers has no adverse side effects, we simply put your crew into deep sleep. There is nothing to worry about. Bye!"
And with that, Zeth put his helmet back on and together with his six other men, he stepped out of the command section through the temporary airlock. The room was now empty but EVA suit standing with Clanedd among their unconscious colleagues and papers strewn all over the place.
"Now that's what I would call a spectacular show." Said a voice.
EVA suit spun around, making sure that Clanedd was behind him before looking at the new adversary.
An EarthGov soldier emerged from the shadow behind a door frame nearly a good 15 meters away from him. He clapped his hands, stretched and yawned.
"Good. Now those crimson boots are gone, we now have control over your station. We should really have done this long ago"
The soldier, clad in light grey and green raised his automatic pistol and pointed it at EVA suit.
"Such a shame, I had friends on board those six "gunboats" you guys shot down. Luckily the higher ups had the sense to station me with the third class whinnies didn't they."
He pulled the slide of the pistol back. The click of a 50 caliber bullet cambering in the gun barrel was heard. EVA suit heard him mumble lazily.
"Let's get this over with. Stand down or I shoot you… You know the usual drill."
His grip tightened on the weapon. EVA suit did not budge.
"Can you like… Not. I just go out on one engineering trip and leave the station unattended and look what I come back to. Such a mess and we all know whose fault it is."
"I warn you again. Stand down now or I shoot."
"Yeah. Sure. Most evil villains never have the balls to shoot anyways." EVA suit sneered as he took a stride forwards.
Bang! The sound echoed and a clatter of a shell casing followed shortly after. EVA suit flinched, a small entry hole in his right upper abdomen appeared.
"Ooh… That smarts." EVA suit stared at the puncture and dusted it off with his left hand. He grimaced slightly. "That suit was expensive you know."
"What?" the EarthGov soldier seemed stunned. "But, how?!"
EVA suit took bigger steps towards the soldier and swiftly un-slung NightStalker from his back.
"Why do people keep disregarding the fact that…" he brought the NightStalker well above his head with his left hand. "The suit is called an EVA suit for a reason!"
The prototype railgun made contact with the soldier's head and he collapsed to the ground instantly with a dent in his helmet.
"And before you ask how I managed to dent that reinforced helmet of yours…" EVA suit said. "It's because EVA suit. That's why!"
The NightStalker clattered to the ground and EVA suit fell to his knees, clutching his right shoulder.
"What a day…" He muttered. "I really ought to get a pay raise for this… That is if I had a pay to begin with."
Clanedd ran over to EVA suit and undid his helmet.
"Saegen, sir. Are you OK? Can you walk?"
"Saegen? Me?" EVA suit began as his helmet came undone and said helmet fell to the ground. Underneath it, was the face of the head engineer.
"Hello Clanedd." TKE said gleefully.
"Teek… Sir?!" Clanedd gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"Taking care of problems… As usual." TKE laughed lightly.
Clanedd remained silent. For all he knew, she might just be fuming under that cute expression she was making but, who was going to care?
Suddenly, someone groaned from within the command room. A hand reached out from under a table and grabbed the table. He tried to pull himself up but ended up pulling the table onto himself, causing what was on the table to spill all over the place.
"Ah, bollocks." He said amongst flying sheets of paper. Slowly but surely, that person pushed the table off himself and clambered to his feet, all the while stumbling around, regaining his balance.
"Elleno?" Clanedd and TKE both said at the same time.
"Ah, hello." He replied back. "Oh boy, that was one hell of a dream mate."
"Hm?" TKE unconsciously said.
"It felt weird, as though I was floating about in some blue hue thing. It was warm and nice but something was trying to talk to me and even after I told it to bugger off too. How rude!"
"How long did it feel for you?" TKE asked, still clutching his right shoulder.
"Half an hour? An hour? I don't know really."
"What did it talk to you about?"
"Something about, only you can do it or some crap like that. If I must say so myself, that thing was late."
"Did you get hit?"
"Yeah… I guess."
"Strange. I have to do some further research in MAXIS."
"In what?"
"Never mind. Return to your station after you get some rest. The engineers will clear up the mess."
"Alright then. Thank you sir."
TKE then turned to Clanedd. "Well. That does it. We have a lot of work to do and boy do I hurt. And damn. I am feeling really tired now."
TKE undid one of the outer fabric pieces of his EVA suit and noted some yellow fluid dripping out from the suit cavity.
"Is that the… tranquilizer?" TKE asked, his eyes getting heavier and heavier.
"I-I'm afraid so…" Clanedd said.
"Well… shit." TKE swore. "So much for breathable under wicking."
With that TKE collapsed to the floor and went out like a light.
TKE opened his eyes and from the cold hard floor he was lying on previously, he was now out of his EVA suit and on a medical bed with his right arm in a cast.
Claev walked up to his bed and with a wry smile he commented with a chuckle.
"For goodness sake Head Engineer how many times do you intend on making a mess and having yourself hospitalized?"
TKE could only just smile back and give a nervous chuckle.
"Dear lord it took us over five hours to clear up the mess after that little 'party' of yours."
TKE glared at the doctor. He raised two hands in submission,
"Alright, fine, fine, I was just joking. Anyways, get well soon. You have been sitting on that stack of mattresses for a day now."
Claev opened up his RIG. "Goodness me. How much of that crap did they pump into you? Most of the crew awoke in an hour you know."
"Yeah. I'm a lazy bugger, I know." TKE replied sarcastically.
Claev ignored him. "The station defense system has already been set up completely, (no thanks to you), and we intend on building the TeraNova soon."
"Already?"
"Yup. Tell me, don't you think it is an exciting endeavor?"
TKE closed his eyes. "Sounds like a lot more paperwork for me."
"Oh come on! You just don't know when to stop now do you."
TKE chuckled and said not another word.
"Alright then. You better get well. Or I'll have your head."
With that, Claev left the room. TKE sighed, he turned to his right and to his surprise, was Clanedd standing by the corner of the room.
She walked over to him and with a swift action, she slapped TKE's face.
"H-Hey! What was that for?"
"For making us… me worry. Geez. You do this too often."
"Man got to do what man got to do after all!"
"You're hopeless."
"I know. I know…"
Clanedd's frown slowly became a smile, as she sat down beside TKE.
"You seem well enough to get up and do something."
"No, I'm not. I am injured. Poor me. Boo hoo."
Clanedd's eye twitched slightly.
"Alright then. Since everything has been solved and Ancient Legends had already paid their reparations, I'll give you a break. I'll just dismantle your coffee machine and bring it over to Claev's office instead."
Clanedd got up and made her way to the door with a chuckle.
TKE shot up from bed. He eyed Clanedd as she opened the door and left the room. TKE climbed out of bed and set his feet onto the floor.
After ensuring that his balance was suitable, he glared at the door.
"Nobody threatens me with my coffee machine and gets away with it."
TKE smiled slightly as he made his way to the door of the medical room and opened it.
To be continued.