Author: Johannes "Jergen[K]" Cruz			Viewing: Chapter 30

The defeat of the UEG Navy at Earth culminated in the Xenomorph attack of Gateway station. The initial waves of attacking ships were easily dispatched, but before the Navy could react to the sheer numbers of the assault Aliens released from the attackers overwhelmed them. Like the angels of death himself the Alien host descended upon the fleet and tore through armored hulls to extinguish the life inside. Luckily for the inhabitants of Gateway, the attackers had to spend a great deal of time cutting through the station defenses before they could launch any kind of successful attack. This gave the remaining forces of the military and science divisions time to disembark the area and head for deep space. The enemy, much fewer in numbers now that the attack was coming to a close, surrounded the station and disembarked more of the Xenomorph attackers into space. The creatures tore through the station, and the few defenders she had left, in less than an hour. Gateway Station, the great bastion and protector of Earth, was defeated just days after their successful destruction of the alien presence on earth. *** Aboard the science vessel Einstein a furious debate was taking place. “I believe the attack on earth was a direct retaliation for our destruction of their hives on Earth,” Doctor Brown stated. “I am not disagreeing with you Doctor, I am only stating that we do not have enough evidence to support this theory of yours,” Edward stated. Doctor Edward Brinks was widely respected as the leading expert in Xenobiology for his more than three decades of study in all manner of life outside of Sol system. This had taken him to almost every civilized planet charted as containing life, and in all of his travels he had not encountered a creature as dangerous as the current threat to humanity. “Then why not maintain a cache of specimens aboard the ship for further study?” Brown asked. “Because,” Brinks said, standing from his small desk and facing the bulkhead behind him. “If what you theorize is true, those creatures will be able to track our position at will. I don’t need to remind you Doctor Brown, that this ship, and the men and women aboard her, are transporting the sum of all genetic information salvaged from Earth, and if we ever hope to rebuild our world in the future, that hope lies with us.” “I understand Doctor,” Brown began, coming to stand next to the venerable Brinks. “But if we can deduce their means of communication and stop it, then we will have won a major victory in this war.” Brinks nodded, “your point is well taken Sir, I will bring it before the council before anything proceeds.” “Thank you sir,” Brown said, “I know we can figure this one out, and when we do it will be a triumph.” Brinks simply nodded, then turned to watch as the young Xenobiologist left his office. Sighing, he opened a drawer on his desk and withdrew a crystal decanter. Looking at the dark amber liquid within, he mused over the thought that it would be centuries before another cask of aged brandy was produced on earth and with this in mind he poured himself a very small glass. Turning from his desk he faced the large porthole behind him and watched the stars slip past in silence, sipping the liquid well into the artificial night. *** Agent Smith knelt over the body of Jones for several moments and went over the man’s clothing, removing several items, including a sample of tissue. This done, he sprayed an amount of liquid onto the body, then lit it aflame. Before the station’s fire suppression system could come online and coat the area in foam, the fire would be burned out, leaving nothing but ash behind. Smith nodded once, then headed to the bowels of the station and to his ship. *** Johannes ran as fast as he could. After breaching the station for a second time he had been attacked fairly regularly until he had entered the outer ring. The creatures seemed more interested in the more populated areas, and thus in the central portions of the station, than the abandoned outer rings and storage zones. His hope was that by the time a great number of them knew where he was it would be to late for them to do anything to stop his work. Every station had destruct methods. Unfortunately, Solstice was so large he would have to get down to her central power reflex generator and detonate a device there to have the intended effect. If he just blew the station apart it would more than likely separate into its component parts, and the transmitter could continue the countdown on emergency power because every station was designed to ensure power to the emergency life support systems and communications. This allowed personnel potentially trapped onboard to continue a distress signal long enough that they might survive. Unfortunately, this redundant power system would doom every ship that had been docked at Solstice, and that was not something Johannes was not prepared to allow. So, the only way he could be assured that his plan would work would be to completely destroy the station in a single massive detonation. Growling, he ran, his legs propelling him faster than humanly possible. *** “How is it looking Eric?” Doc asked, strapped into the co-pilot’s station next to the ship’s captain. “We are away, but this signal is going to kill us,” Eric said, snapping out a transmission. “Shadow Dragon, do you read me?” “Roger Hummel,” Mekhazzio said. “I have you.” “What’s the status of this signal?” Eric asked. “It appears to have been initiated inside the station at the Command level,” Mekhazzio began. “We sent someone in to shut it down.” Eric thought for a moment before transmitting again, “Understood Shadow Dragon, thank you for the assist, now I guess we just pray.” Mekhazzio called back, “you do that, Shadow Dragon out.” Nervously, Doc watched as the clock on his console counted off the time remaining; three minutes and twenty seconds. *** Johannes burst into the station control center. One man, the last by the look of it, jumped to his feet and tried to stop him. Jergen snarled at him as he struck the man in the chest with his rifle, driving him out of the way. The defense officer, little more than a paid civilian, was lifted from his feet and slammed into the metal bulkhead of the room by the impact. Before the man had even settled to the deck Johannes was searching him. In less than a heartbeat he had the man’s security badge and was dragging him towards the armory door. Inserting the card, Jergen lifted the man’s hand to the sensor next to the hatch and pressed his thumb onto the metal pad. A light next to the panel turned green, and the armory opened with a satisfying click. Johannes left the guard next to the door as he moved into the room, looking for the tall canisters that would house nuclear mines. After tearing through the room, he located the munitions he needed. Each mine was housed in an olive green metal canister with a large circular radiation symbol painted on the side. The words danger appeared along the rim of the top and bottom of the device in small red painted letters. The top of the mine contained a small console and number pad. Just above the arming terminal was a circular opening for the arming key. Johannes smashed a small locker nearby that was also painted with the yellow and black nuclear symbol and removed a key. As Johannes turned three Xenomorphs tore into the control room behind him. The first went for the unconscious man, picking him up like a rag doll, it was gone into a ventilation shaft an instant later. Johannes shot the first creature in the head as it entered the room. The rounds easily tore the thing’s armor apart, leaving it a screaming, thrashing mess on the floor. The second creature leapt out of the way of the rounds, grabbed onto the ceiling with impossibly strong hands and ran towards Johannes, it’s tail barb pulled back and ready for a killing strike. At the last possible moment Jergen ducked and rolled to the side. The creature’s tail shot out, slamming the two foot long spike through the metal floor plates Johannes had just occupied. The creature whiped around, preparing to drop to the deck just as it was riddled with pulse rifle fire. Screaming, the creature fell to the metal deck of the station, thrashing wildly as acid sprayed the room, vaporizing metal and glass wherever it landed. Johannes rolled out of the way, leaving the thing alone until it was finished with its death throws. Johannes cautiously approached the thing, then kicked it to the side as he moved to gather the mine. Pausing, he cursed. Acid from the creature had completely destroyed the arming panel of the device. Electrical systems that were meant to set timing and detonation radii were melted into a clump of twisted metal. The rest of the mines had been much less fortunate, they were either completely unserviceable because all of their electronics had been fused, or their cases had been ruptured. For an absent moment Johannes pondered that he was probably being bombarded with enough radiation to ensure he developed at least three different types of cancer. Laughing at the thought, he shouldered the mine, hoping against all odds that he could set it off when he had to, he left the room at as fast a run as he could manage with the extra weight. *** Smith settled into his gravity couch and brought the ship’s systems to active. He paused for a quick look at his console, noting that he had just over two minutes until the station issued the final destruct command to the fleeing ships around Solstice, and to the station herself. Just as he was releasing the ship from umbilical dock, he heard the hiss of an attacking Alien. The creature lunged at him, its attack tongue shooting forward to impact his skull as it did so. Calmly, Smith pressed a button on a small device he carried, and the creature fell motionless to the deck by his feet. Smiling, Smith applied power to his main engines, and pulled away from the dying husk that was Solstice Station. *** Johannes paused near the top of the reactor. He had been near this place less than an hour ago, fighting for his life in the coolant reservoirs located on the outside of the actual chamber, but he had never imagined that he would be trying to enter the bowels of a burning reactor core. Just being where he was, inside of the maintenance access passageways surrounding the entire superstructure like a honeycomb, he was getting enough rads that he could feel his flesh heating up in a burn. He studied the panel in front of him that detailed the access passages to the central cooling ducts. If he could get there and set off the device, it would rupture the core of the plasma furnace, thus detonating the entire station. His finger traced the route, stopping just under where he would have to be. Memorizing the section number, he again picked up his burden and ran for the nearest lift. Sweat was pouring down Jergen’s face and body in a small downpour. Normally all work done on reactors was done either in an orbital factory before it was towed into position, or during an emergency power-down. Now he was sitting beneath more raw energy than he had ever imagined, and he had every intention of setting it free before he was done. The heat of the furnace, coupled with increasing levels of ambient radiation, were taking a toll on him. By the time the lift stopped at the bottom of the furnace complex, he had to will himself forward. Struggling with every step, Johannes approached his fate. *** Evelyn sat up in her small bed and looked around the empty room. The drugs, along with the nausea of shock, had finally worked themselves free of her system, and she felt like her old self again. With a critical eye she looked at the wound in her leg, and judged it as pretty mild considering what had caused it. The entire event seemed like a haze up until they had to fight their way back to the ship to escape. Several things were swimming around in her head, the most urgent of which being what had gone wrong enough that alien specimens were destroying the station in apparently vast numbers. Silently, she cursed herself for referring to them as specimens. The creatures had become a very real threat to her life in the past few hours, and because of that they would never again be impersonal to her. Struggling, she sat on the edge of the bed and looked at herself in the mirror. Her brows knit as he looked down at her chest and at the metal tags hanging there. Lifting one of them, she read the inscription stamped there: Cruz, Johannes 213548774 A – AGNOSTIC She paused, thinking for a moment as to where she had managed to come up with Jergen’s identification tags. Shaking her head, she turned to the inter-ship communications module and punched the bridge. “Captain Mekhazzio,” she said. “Is Sergeant Ban or Corporal Johannes in the vicinity?” Mekhazzio paused, not knowing exactly how to answer, then motioned to Ban. “The Doctor is awake Sergeant,” he swallowed, not used to indecisiveness. “She asked for Jergen.” Ban cursed under his breath as he removed his harness and prepared to leave the bridge, “You going to need me for a while?” he asked before he left. “Sergeant,” Mekhazzio said, looking at the console next to his seat. “In one minute and thirty-six seconds I’m not going to be needing anything, attend to her if you like.” Ban nodded and left the bridge. *** Johannes paused at the entrance to the alien hive. It stood to reason that the creatures would nest here, as far away from the population centers as they could manage, and below something that no one would be able to get through in order to root them out. Whatever intelligence it was that drove them, Jergen had no doubts that it was at least up to the human standard. The chitinous walls dripped with secreted slime as he moved past them. Twice he passed through rooms populated by dozens of cocooned people, some of them lucid, most of them unconscious or dead. The floor was littered with dozens of parasite bodies, each one curled up like a fist, already stiff from rigor mortis. Oddly, none of the creatures were about, and Jergen made his way quickly towards the base of the reactor. As he burst into the room he paused in shock. Before him, attached to the wall by what must have been tons of restraints and her own secretions, was the alien Queen. As Johannes entered she let out a long hiss that echoed across the room. The nightmare image of her immense form was accentuated by the red lights flashing intermittently, throwing a sheet of blood colored illumination over her midnight black body. Her head, shaped more like some kind of regal head-dress, thrashed back and forth as she struggled against her bonds. The huge egg sack attached to her was nearly empty now, having produced enough pods for the parasites, she could stop production of her eggs and again try to leave this place. From the look of things not only had this hive been here for quite some time, but this particular Queen had been installed here and confined in such a way that she couldn’t escape. Johannes cursed to himself. The experiment had never been intended for some out of the way backwater station, it was always supposed to be here. They had set this place up months ago, and then waited for the specimen to be delivered to them. He and Ban, even the Doctor, had been pawns in a plot that spanned all the way back to the government itself. Even the pirate, Mekhazzio, had been fed the information in the hopes of securing the proper cargo and delivering it here. The entire thing had been a ruse to get this thing out of proper hands so that this experiment could take place outside of the control of UEG Navy and civilian authorities. Shaking his head, he stepped into the massive chamber near her. Not seconds later he heard the sounds of Xenomorphs moving to attack him. Johannes whirled around, dropping the charge behind him he opened fire on the creatures. The first two caught the brunt of the attack, sending them crashing back into the passageway, shrieking in pain and rage. The last two shot out in different directions, one heading right, the other left. Johannes got a lucky hit on one of them, sending it spinning around, spraying acid as it went down from a head wound. Using the death of its partner as a decoy, the last warrior was able to reach him. Just as Johannes moved to turn the attack hit him solidly in the back. Penetrating body armor, flesh and bone, the Alien’s tail barb exploded through Jergen’s body and out of his stomach in a shower of blood, knocking the air out of his lungs and sending him to his knees. The warrior’s talons tore into his shoulders, forcing him forward as it tore its tail free and circled to attack again. All around him Johannes could sense eggs opening as parasites prepared to launch their attack. The warrior sped in again, this time tackling Johannes and bringing him to the deck of the station and pinning his arms to his sides so one of the other things could latch itself to his face. Johannes snarled, looking up at the shining mass of the armored thing on top of him. Screaming in pain, he kicked with both of his legs, launching the creature into the air and away from him as he rolled onto his stomach. He could feel his wound burn, releasing a torrent of blood onto the deck as he sat up and opened fire on the thing before it could get its bearings and attack again. The alien shrieked, then stopped moving as the rounds that had torn it to pieces finished their work. Behind him, the alien Queen roared in anger, thrashing against her bonds. Three parasites launched themselves at Johannes as he moved towards the charge. Each creature got some sort of purchase on his body, and began to work towards his face. Jergen reached down, grabbed one from his chest, and tore it free of his body and threw it across the chamber. Another wrapped its tail around his throat and began to choke him. Gritting teeth as he fought for breath, Johannes pulled his pistol and shot the thing point blank. Acid from the creature spurted out, running down his back and shoulders, burning flesh to bone in the process. Jergen cried out in pain, falling onto his side next to the charge. The last parasite tried to attack him head on, but was blown apart by three pistol shots before it could even begin its jump. Johannes paused, his breath laboring in his throat as he tried to pull himself to the charge. His back and gut were on fire from the damage done to them, his spine was clearly visible through the mangled flesh, and he was certain he had been disemboweled by the tail strike from the warrior. Soon he would die, but not before he was done. Struggling, he pulled the arming key from his pocket and jammed it into the top of the mine as best he could. As the panel came to life, blinking with the few lights that remained undamaged from the acid, Johannes breathed a sigh of relief. He jammed the arming button down, and was immediately greeted by the blinking warning light. He could feel the device begin to vibrate as the components inside were put into their proper order for detonation. Across the chamber the Queen screamed. Johannes looked up at her, blood streaming from his mouth and down his throat, he smiled. “That’s right little lady,” he managed, coughing on his own death, drowning in blood. “It’s all over for we two warriors.” With a final twist the mine began to count down. For a moment the Queen fell silent, she reached out to the mind of the man before her, her mind bending his to her will. Johannes was suddenly very tired, he knew life was at and end for him, and he just wanted to fall asleep, to let the darkness sweep up and engulf him. He could feel, just beyond the reach of his shattered body, his mind slipping down and away into absolute darkness. *** “Have you ever thought about life after the service Ban?” Jergen said, shoving another piece of bread into an already very crowded mouth and chewing it down through gulps of water. “After?” Ban said, looking sidelong at his friend. “Not really, seems to me that the only time a man can count on not making it is when he starts making plans.” Johannes smiled. “Yea, last night Stevens was telling me how he wanted to start up a blues joint when his hitch is up. He was telling me everything about it,” he paused, taking another bite. “He was the first one hit this morning.” Ban shook his head, “You ever wonder about the randomness of war?” “Whoa there Banster,” Johannes said, holding up his hands. “You’re trying to get all Greek tragedy on me or something.” “It’s just so strange sometimes,” Ban remarked, taking a bite out of an apple. “We fight for months and days without a scratch, and Stevens,” he shrugged. “He buys it the moment someone starts shooting.” “Dumb luck,” Jergen said. “He was one hell of a fine spades player you know.” “Yea,” Ban said, putting his helmet back on and getting to his feet. “For me,” Jergen said, laying back in the grass to catch a little sun. “I want to go out in a blaze of glory, you know, hero and all that.” Ban laughed a little, looking at his friend lounging below him. “If anyone is going to do it Jergen, it will be you.” Johannes smiled, “Not if you do it first.” *** It was very dark where he was, and dead silent. Every sense was dead to him here, but he knew he was awake, and that a vast emptiness had settled all around him. Then a light flared, from a match, and he realized it was cold, and he was shivering. He knew there should be more, but he couldn’t remember what that was. A familiar face was outlined by the brief illumination, looking at him with stoic eyes. “You haven’t completed the mission Johannes,” the voice said, soft but with steel beneath. “What?” Johannes said. “I don’t understand, I don’t remember.” “Forgetting is the enemy Johannes, you have to remember,” the face moved closer, seeming disembodied in the darkness as it did so. “Remember your duty Johannes,” then the shadows began to creep in, swallowing the feeble light of the match. “Remember.” *** Mekhazzio paused, watching the counter, eleven seconds. Closing his eyes, he waited for the brilliance that were his ship’s engines going critical and consuming them all. *** Ban held the Doctor in his arms. As soon as he had arrived she asked about Johannes, and from the lack of any real answer from Ban, she knew something was wrong. Without a word Ban had simply pointed to the station hanging off of Shadow Dragon’s port keel, falling away into the distance. Evelyn didn’t know how to feel about the news, for now there was only simple emptiness. *** Johannes opened his eyes to a world of pain. His body was already stiffening from rigor as his eyes struggled to focus on the thing in front of him. It was the device, it’s arming panel mostly destroyed, but with a small blinking prompt to authorize immediate detonation. His mind reeled, why was he here, and what was this thing asking him? The Queen, enraged that the being before her had returned to consciousness, hissed. She had tried to break his will, but had failed, and now she was certain she was going to die. Johannes flinched at the sound, then noticed the red claxon lights of the macabre station, and felt the secretions of the hive under his broken flesh. Then he remembered what it was he had to do. With his right hand he slammed the pistol butt down on the panel, authorizing detonation. Just before the explosion consumed him, and everything in Solstice station, he smirked at the writhing Queen. Spitting out a glob of blood and torn tissues he said, “taste Death.” *** Remembering back to one of their late night talks, Evelyn thought of what Johannes had said to her: “Peace and freedom have a terrible price Doctor, and it is the duty of people like myself to pay that ledger.” She had never understood that statement as well as she did now. As Solstice detonated, becoming a small star for just an instant, sending a shockwave out that shook the ship, she was certain that it was perhaps the greatest truth she had ever known. For the past few weeks her naivete had been pushed aside in favor of the truth of wisdom. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she looked up at Ban, who was still holding her. He too had moisture on his face, but nothing like her from sobbing. He was stoic in the face of this pain, strong and silent, as he always was. When she spoke, her voice was strong with pain and anger, “How many souls must we lay upon the alter of peace before this war is over?” Ban looked at her, his dark eyes full of sorrow and the confusion of a man who does not know what to say. *** As the shockwave hit Shadow Dragon Mekhazzio was sure it was the end. Then, it passed, leaving the ship still in it’s wake. He opened one eye, then the next, and watched the final moments of the reaction that had taken the station apart. Letting out a sigh, he whiped his forehead and opened the intercom. “This is the Captain speaking,” he said, pausing to make his voice unwavering. “We are free of the station. I will need a general meeting with the Doctor and Ban to discuss our next destination.” Just then a tight-band message came in over the communications network. It was addressed to all members of the UEG fleet and their subsidiaries. Mekhazzio frowned, knowing that such a broadcast was never good news. “Oh great,” he mumbled. “What now?” *** “Hummel’s Dawn out,” Eric said. For a few moments he didn’t move, sitting quietly in his chair with the broadband communiqué dangling from his fingers. Earth destroyed, the fleet in shambles and enemies marshalling in every known quadrant. Eric felt himself slipping into shock, his mind fought hard against what he had read, but the truth was there, and he would have to digest it and decide what to do. “Get me a list of all operational beacons and communications networks,” Eric said. “We have to find a place to go,” he sighed, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. “Let’s just hope there is somewhere to go.” *** Two months had passed with no contact. Every station was either abandoned or destroyed. On a few occasions they had encountered ghost ships, but they were either infected with the creatures, or completely devoid of all life. They had tried to find a viable planet the entire time, but with no success. Every large population had either been destroyed, or was not willing to allow refugees to land. Thus, Shadow Dragon and Hummel’s dawn had picked up ships as lost as they were, and now had quite a convoy heading through space like a gypsy wagon train. Then they had found the signal. On a routine communications scan they had located a signal operating from within an uncharted system far outside the rim. The committee that had been formed from the leaders of each of the two dozen ships met and decided it was worth investigation. Plotting their course, the survivors of Solstice, Gateway and Alexandria entered hypersleep. Three months later they arrived. The system had two worlds, the first of which was hardly the size of a moon, orbiting far out from the twin-suns that bathed the second world with light and heat. The second world was like something out of fantasy. It was much like earth, a class M planet that was twice her size and with a pair of golden rings orbiting her at thirty six miles out. The crew of Shadow Dragon stood on the bridge, watching as the planet grew closer to them. Mekhazzio, now fully repaired, spoke first. “Looks like the garden of Eden doesn’t she?” Evelyn nodded, “That’s a fitting name I think,” she looked at Ban. Ban nodded his consent to her, “Very fitting.” Just then the twin moons rose over the zenith of the planet, and a crimson cloud of stellar dust was lighted by their golden brilliance. The cloud pulsed with life, glowing dozens of colors as if there were some immense celestial sunset taking place before their eyes. The cloud was enormous, reaching out around the two suns like molten starfire. “That,” Evelyn said, her voice filled with the awe of the moment. “Is Jergen’s Fury.” In the bridge, everyone was silent.