The sound of tapping alerted the slightly drowsy marine. He looked around to see nothing, yet the tapping grew closer. Closer. Closer. He looked up, and sure enough, a little skulk was watching over him, ready to pounce. He quickly whipped out his pistol, and pumped a few rounds in to it.
Not even phased.
"Damned budget CUTS!" He screamed before receiving a face full of teeth.
Respawning.
"Ugh... Jenkins, get down there and kill that Skulk before it wrecks the power. Its already at 85%." A voice echoed through the team's helmets.
"On it boss." Jenkins replied. "I'll grab a shotgun and go."
"And you... What is it? Private Brave-something?"
"I-It's Briavary.. Sir." The marine replied. "But just call me John.."
"That's a no-go private. What do you think this is? The boot camp cafeteria?" The commander replied. "We go by ranks and last name by law, or were you sick during those Ten years of training?"
"Uhm.. No sir.."
"Then go and help reinforce that power core that you Could Have protected."
"y-yes sir.." John gulped. It was his first deployment, and due to his scores on the written test, he was put on the front lines. "IT WAS JUST SO EASY!" He thought to himself.
"PRIVATE!"
A stern yell awoke him from his day dreaming. "O-ON IT SIR!"
"What a good start. Fan-FUCKING-tastic." John thought to himself. The first alien he sees, and it kicks his ass. Royally. "This is gonna be a good day. I know it." He joked to himself aloud. At least, he had some people to help him. A full squad of the finest soldiers in the Frontiersmen's armada. Too bad they were mostly judged by their boot camp test scores.
"Ya gonna let a Skulk show you out?"
John jumped in surprise. "Don't freaking do that man. Nearly crapped myself.."
"Wouldn't have surprised me."
It was wolf, the seinor combat officer.
"So, Rex out to get you?"
"Yeah.. It's probably nothing though. I'll be fine." John replied.
"You sure aren't acting like it." Wolf retorted.
"I know what's happening here.. I'm not gonna play this game man.." John snapped slightly.
"Woah, sorry. Toutch-y! It's gonna be fine. The rookie always gets chewed out on their first day. It's just the cycle of life in the Frontiersmen.
This reassured John enough for him to continue with the task at hand. "Thanks.."
"Don't mention it. Really, don't tell Rex."
"Don't tell me what now?" A slightly prissy computerized voice came over their headsets.
"Nothing Rex, get back to commanding. I'll head to the east wing to scout." Wolf said, nodding at John.
John nodded back, and made his way to help Jenkins back at the barracks.
"Yo!" Jenkins called out to john, from his perch atop the sentry battery.
"Well, this wasn't here when that Skark-" John was cut off.
"Skulk." Jenkins quickly said.
"Whatever!" John said. "The point is, if those were there, I wouldn't have died! And might I add- It really hurt."
"We all know rookie... We have ALL died at least a hundred times before you..." Jenkins said flatly.
He then looked over to the damaged power core, fresh with Skulk chunks. "Well? Get to it."
John sighed, and walked over to do his assigned deeds.
I wonder how these things work... How did they become so vile? If they have been undisturbed for so long.." His thoughts were stopped by the power returning, and the lights blinking on.
"Hey Jenkins! I got the power back!"
"Yeah, I can see tha-" He stopped mid sentence, a look of horror upon his face.
"What's wrong?"
"JOHN, BEHIND YOU!"
John looked to his side, only to see a pair of bright yellow eyes staring him down, and then vanish.
"GAH! WHAT THE HELL?! OH GOD!" He snapped in panic, only to be slashed on the back. He turned around, his combat axe in hand. Swinging back, the only thing he killed was air. He heard a disturbance above him, and whipped out his assault rifle.
"I got you now bitch."
He readied his shot quickly, and pumped a clip in to the space above him. As a result, he heard a sharp screech, followed by a downpour of a wet, yellowish-red substance. Then the creature blinked again, this time, to an air vent.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!"
John grabbed the creature's leg, and was greeted with a squeal, he tore the creature out of the vent.
He threw his rifle to the side, and tackled the creature. He began to beat it senselessly. Right hook, left hook.
As John began to tire out, the creature began to melt away, the trump card of the Kharaa, the one thing preventing them from being countered. Every time a specimen was secured, it melted away soon after. It's a little difficult to do arms testing on a pile of organic goo.
John was pulled back by Jenkins, leaving him to inspect the damage himself.
"Jesus kid... What the fuck was that?! You just flipped out!" Jenkins blurted.
"I... I d-don't know... I'm just..." John Fell to the floor.
"Kid! What the hell...."
John had passed out. He would come too soon, but Jenkins felt it worthy to radio for backup.
"Yo, Rex, we need a team down here to collect John."
"Ugh, what did that idiot do this time?!" Rex replied, obviously irritated.
"Lets just say that the kid has a soldier in him.. Somewhere.."
Twilight Sparkle was trying to perfect the almighty potion. One that would out-do the innovations of Star Swirl the bearded, and them some. She was developing a way to allow any type of pony- Earth, or pegasus to teleport. She was gathering materials needed to make the brew, with help form other members of the mane six, namely Fluttershy and Pinkie.
"Here ya go!" Pinkie said happily.
Twililight was almost done, she just needed to have Fluttershy come back with the rest of the ingredients, and gather the others to help her test it. Before she could say anything to Pinkie, she heard a tapping on her door.
"U-um T-T-Twilight? I got the herbs you wanted..." Fluttershy softly stated.
"Good! Now bring them here. I'll start mixing them in. Now, Pinkie, I need you to-"
That's when she realized Pinkie, was indeed, gone. "Where did she.." Again, she was rudely cut off by another knocking at the door.
"Yo, Twi! Pinkie came and gathered us all up as soon as she could! What's the bug rush?" Rainbow said from behind the door.
"Well.. That was.. Odd... But helpful.." Twilight muttered to herself. "Well okay then, come in, I'm adding the final ingredients now."
"Ingredients for.. what exactly?" Rarity sniped.
"Glad you asked! it's for my newest potion.. It's supposed to help any type of pony teleport! Earth ponies, Pegasi, and even unicorns new to magic!" Twilight proudly proclaimed.
"But how n' tarnation is that suppose'd to work?" Applejack stated quizzically.
"By using a certain herbs and tomes, I have combined the very essence of the spell, pure magic, and some magical stimulants to allow anyone to preform the spell!... In theory.." Twilight said enthusiastically.
"Wait, what was that last part again?" Rainbow asked.
"Nothing! It was nothing of importance!" Twilight quickly replied, wiping a bead of sweat off of her forehead.
"Eeeeeeewwwwwww!" Pinkie screamed. "That. Is. One NASTY color! Let's make it nicer!"
Twilight had no idea what she was referring to, until she heard rustling behind her.
"P-P-PINKIE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Twilight screamed.
Pinkie was adding every single spice, powder, and color she could find to the potion.
"OOH! And a little bit of piiiiink~ And some Bluuuuuee~ AH! And some Yeeellooooww~!" She was making the already bubbling concoction even more unstable. Steam began to rise from it.
"Alright... Nobody... move... a muscle..." Twilight muttered.
"How about this pretty flower!"
"It was if the world slowed down. In her hands, pinkie had a sample.. Of poison joke.
"NO!" was the last thing Twilight said before every member of the mane six vanished. In a single puff of smoke, it was if nothing happened at all.
"Hey twilight, I heard some screaming, what happened?" Spike said.
"...Twi?" They were gone. Welp, more free time for me.. I guess...
"Jenkins, Report."
"Fade sir. Fully armored and upgraded too, woulda been hard ta' kill with even a shotgun shot to the face."
"And you are trying to tell me that He took it on with an assault rifle and his fists?!" Rex said, in disbelief.
"Aye sir." Jenkins replied, monotone as ever.
"Well tell wolf and Ryans to scout the area out, weld the vents shut, and crush any cysts they find. Go with them."
"Yes sir.. And what' about John?"
"He will come to in a matter of seconds due to the stim, i'll brief him."
"Yes sir." Jenkins walked in to the nearest hallway, off to inform his colleagues of their new orders.
John was coming to. "Jesus... My god damn back..." He muttered to himself, as he scraped himself off his back.
He looked around. He was back at base. "Oh damn it, did I die AGAIN?!" He said aloud.
"Quite the opposite actually private."
"Who's- Oh. Its just you commander. Not much for s-showing your face, huh?"
Rex was wearing his state of the art commander helmet, it allowed him to issue minor orders outside of a command station. Such as build this, go here, buy that..
"It's mostly to help keep aware. Can't be too careful in an alien infest hellhole of a colony." Rex said.
"Well, now that you have regained conscience, build that warp gate, the network's almost complete. When it is, I want you to join Wolf and the others on their patrol."
"Yes sir." John replied. He began to weld, and repair the gate when it flared up. "Whoa.. That was fast..." He said to himself.
"Alright, who's coming through the portal?" Rex said.
"None of us are near a station sir..." Jenkins's voice piped up on the radio."
"B-team?" Rex inquired.
"Gaz here, me an' Ratch are at the forward sentry batteries.. The portal Isn't built yet over here."
"Then who the hell..." Rex was cut off as a burst of light came from the portal.
"JOHN, BACK AWAY!"
John complied and dove away, taking cover behind the weapons depot.
Rex ran back in to his command station just in time, as the portal flared.
Several thumps on the cold metallic floor followed, and sure enough, the portal stopped spazzing out.
John looked up from his cover, and took in the sight before him.
"John.. what's out there? The flares cut the command center's power. I can't see." Rex shouted from inside the metallic box.
"You'd better come out and see for yourself..."
Developments
John pressed a manual release button on the side of the command box, letting the well shaken Rex loose from it's wrecked, unpowered location. He stepped out of the box, catching his breath before noticing the pile of almost putridly bright colors.
Except there was something odd about this relatively large, "Pile." It was ever so slightly MOVING. The pile was ALIVE.
"Commander, do you have ANY idea what these are..?"
"No, but I do know one thing. They are an unknown alien life form that has suddenly breached through our wave gate and has made it's way in to the heart of our base."
"And..?" John asked, wondering what the commander was getting at.
"Code 43-T. If an alien life-form is encountered, we must contain it, and inform command immediately."
"You can't be serious."
"Even after just meeting me you should know full well how serious I am private. I'll bring them over, you get a plasma cell prepped for these... Creatures.."
"They look like horses sir. How harmful can a small technicolor horse be si-" John was cut off.
"That is an order private..."
John looked from the new arrivals to Rex and back.
"Fine."
John went to prep the cage, and looked back to see Rex pulling the coms channel back up, and sending out a message.
"Everything is fine up here, we just had a minor case of code 43-T. Nothing huge. Continue with you operations soldiers. That is all."
The creatures had been artfully placed in the cage by he time everything was back up and running, and John didn't like it.
Even if they are aliens, they deserved better treatment.
"At least by the cage's size, it's more or less a small holding cell," John though to himself.
He was soon greeted with alight snort, followed by one of the creatures beginning to regain conscience.
John knew he should have called Rex first, but he didn't want to complicate his idea of a first impression.
How welcoming would it be to have a heavily armored military commander questioning them in a stern voice?
So John decided to take matters in to his own hands.
He slowly began to turn up the lights in the cage, and saw that the alien that was arising was a light purple in color.
It shook its head, and looked to John, not sure how to react. If John could read minds, he would see terror was the most viable option spinning through its head.
So John figured he should try and communicate.
"H-hello?"
The creature seemed surprised by his attempt to communicate. It cocked its head to the side, almost curious if it was imagining things.
"Can you understand me?" John asked.
It seemed futile at first, but what would he lose in trying?
"What are you? And How can you speak equestrian?"
If John was having a drink, he would have spit it out faster than he could imagine.
WHAT...?
"I-I could ask you the same thing..." Was all he could make out.
They went back and forwards for nearly ten minutes, until John decided to make things more simple.
"Okay, miss..?"
"Sparkle. but you can just call me twilight."
"Okay, 'Twilight', how about this. I ask you a question, you answer, then we do the same, but reversed."
"That sounds like it would be less complicated." it said with a still flat tone.
"Soo.... What are you..?" John felt awkward talking to a horse. I mean, how far gone are most people when they talk to animals?
"An equestrian, or if you mean by species, a pony. Now, is it my turn?"
"A pony huh? Not sure that you are the type of pony I'm used to. But i'll bite. Shoot.
"You're going to bite me!?" The pony asked, incredibly shocked.
"No no no, it's just a phrase we humans use to say that we will answer a question..." John said hastily.
"Interesting... Besides, you answered my question any ways. I was going to ask what you were."
Suddenly, John's radio flared up.
"Commander, we have a transport inbound."
"This is Echo 1197 responding to a code 43-T called by Commander Rex-4338, requesting permission to dock."
"This is Rex 4338, your request to dock has been granted. Please proceed to bay four."
"Roger that commander, docking sequence initiated."
"What's that thing on your belt making noise?" The pony asked.
"just something to help me communicate with my comrades. They were just saying that some people coming to inspect you and your friends have arrived. it's only natural that a first contact with a new species requires a higher audience, you dig?"
"I'm sure, 'dig' Is another one of those things you mentioned before, but I guess I can understand completely."
"Greetings General."
"Please, just keep to the formalities. Call me Zack, or if you feel compelled, just keep it to General."
"Yes sir." Rex said, trying to make his own first impression."
"And this is my pilot, he prefers to go by Echo."
"That's ma' name, don't wear it out." The peppy young pilot spewed out in a near slur.
"Indeed. Now, where are these, 'Aliens' you described to me. I wish to inspect them."
"We have them stationed in a holding cell in the medical ward. Follow me, I'll lead the way sir."
The lights flickered off with a buzz, whilst the electric bars on the cell fizzed out of existence.
"Why are the lights off?" The mare questioned.
"I don't know, but stay in the cell. Whatever caused the black out may be trouble. I'll be right back."
With that, John whipped out his knife, and went in to a crouched walk down the halls.
As he made his way down the hall, he heard light tapping against metal.
He turned the corner, sidearm now unholstered, and observed the sight that was before him...
Nothing.
All that was there was a broken power box. He decided to fix it.
"All done." John said aloud, as he heard a shrill scream from the med wing.
"NO!" John yelled, booking it for the source of the distress.
"THIS is why we never leave our, 'guests' ALONE!"
"What was That Rex!?"
"No clue General, but I get the felling we should find out!" Rex said in a near panic.
Him and his two guests dashed for the medical wing with as much haste as they could muster.
They ran in to the med bay, to see a small group of Lerks buzzing around the room, occasionally dive-bombing the now all awake group of, 'Aliens.'
The most shocking part though, was that the purple one was firing bolts of energy at them.
"My lord! Help them!"
Out of the blue, John dashed in, sidearm blazing.
"GET OUT OF HERE YOU ALIEN PIGEONS!"
They seemed to be relatively injured from the start, undoubtedly trying to escape from the sentry battery to the east, so this was the final push they needed to flee.
One of them though, was not so cowardly though. It dive-bombed towards the cage, ponies and all.
This Lerk was hungry, and it was not about to leave with an empty stomach.
Author's note
I know this chapter is not worth how long it's been, but to be honest.. I'm a lazy POS when it comes to commitment. Don't worry, this is probably the shortest and most rushed chapter there will be for the rest of the story. And, as per usual, point out some errors if you see any. I tried to go over this twice, but I just KNOW I missed something somewhere.
Thanks for your time. ~R3
