The cruel and unfeeling alarm jolted Shinji up, piercing his once dormant ears with some wailing of Korean and German, a most unholy combination. New Age Rock fascinated and disturbed him. As he moved up and out of his bed, the dim red light of his bunk allowed the sergeant to see easily without blowing out his vision and causing strain. Space Age engineering at it's finest. He thought to himself as he began to suit up in his combat dress, sweat suit followed by his urban camo garments and then the best part, the Powered Combat Vest and Helm. Following an extensive boot sequence measuring his biometric data, retinal scans, and a password input on his wrist codex, he was in. A HUD popped up showing his vitals, the battery on his armor, and an intuitive weapon tracker that was empty.
"Time to get my gun," the suited up Earth-Mars Alliance Marine told himself. He briskly walked out of his bunk towards the station armory. There were several but he was assigned to one on Level 4, that was his area of jurisdiction after all. But it also required a 200 meter walk to a lift, going down two levels, another 135 meters of walking and avoiding scientists chatting about mass spectrometers, and finally to the armory and range. Now protocol was a pain and required any munitions storage be situated in a central location, as to not blow a hole in the side of the station, as well as away from any living quarters and no less than 100 meters away from a Class II laboratory. Rules and regulations were no fun for the Earth-born, individualists like him.
"Hey, uh, Sergeant Yam-" struggled a female voice.
"Yamazaki, yes?" replied Shinji, snapping out of his self-monologue. He looked over to a confused scientist with the lanyard keycard that read 'Class IV - Corey' and a crisp lab coat.
"You're not wearing any shoes." She pointed down to his feet which had standard issue socks and nothing else. She giggled. He didn't realize there were any cute girls on the ship.
"Uhh, well, you see.." Shinji struggled to come up with an excuse, his mind trying to save face in such a situation. "One of the head scientists decided to experiment with my shoes a little and put this sick camo on them so that they're invisible." She laughed at his pathetic attempt to save his dignity. Shinji chuckled as well as if to say Haha, I know I'm a dork. "This would be the part where I'd say that the reason there aren't any other marines around is because they're scared of me because I beat the Colonel in a fist fight but you wouldn't buy it."
"I don't know, not just anyone gets invisible boots so I mean, anything's possible." She replied as if to say Don't worry, we all make mistakes. He smiled at her.
"Oh and your name is?"
"Morgan, Class IV. Not as hard to get in as you'd think."
"Yeah, even so, they'd probably stick me as a janitor or a labrat. I'm just not cut out for science. If I had my way, I'd be an artist but these stupid Pirate Wars. Every station needs a big, dumb guy with a gun now."
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. I just really like researching deep space radiation. Say, are you free tomorrow?" This caught Shinji off guard.
"Yes, I am." Morgan nodded her head and slipped him a note. The elevator dinged and she walked out. He waved at her awkwardly and then looked down at the note, 'Meet me at Central Plaza at 11:30 tomorrow.' He pumped his fist in the air. Upon looking up he noticed that he was at Level 9. "I'm not as mad as I would normally be but still," he said, talking to himself.
Pressing the button to go back to Level 2 to get his boots. The ride wasn't as fun, at least not without her. The PCV gave him the usual grief for not being on schedule but frankly, he didn't care. Tying his boots was a breeze and the ride down to Level 4 was about as empty as you'd expect. His schedule is timed so that he misses the usual rush of marines down to the armory. He still had about 3 minutes before they began to stream out of bunks. Walking out of the elevator, he began to walk over to the armory. Passing two passionate scientists, he walked into the warehouse of fun.
"Aye, Shinji my boy! How goes it?" shouted a jubilant Jenkins, the armorer on Level 4. Jenkins leaned in closer to get a good look at Shinji. "You're beet red! Talking to any girls lately?"
"How did you- Demon! Where's the chaplain, I'm sure he can exorcise you." laughed Shinji. "Well there was this cute girl in the elevator," Jenkins began to nod, "but I forgot to wear my boots."
"Yamazaki!" yelled Jenkins, half joking, "You run into a cute girl on the one day you didn't wear boots! C'mon man!"
"She was cool about it and we're meeting up tomorrow." Jenkin's half angry expression changed into one of brotherly pride. His infectious smile widened.
"That's what I want to hear, let me guess, the usual." Jenkins replied like a sarcastic waiter. Shinji nodded as Jenkins headed to the back of the room. He stood waiting for about 40 seconds until Jenkins called him up to the pick-up counter. "One HSW-19 and a PAP-12. Packed you an extra two mags for good luck. Now don't screw this up. If you come sobbing to me tomorrow, I'll find another non-com to call my son, you hear me?"
"Loud and clear sir!" Jenkin nodded him out. "I appreciate you Jenkins."
Shinji walked out into the precinct, his eyes scanning for his station. Being off patrol duty had its benefits, sit at a desk and hope that the brass didn't notice you goofing off. Opening the door, he found his desk and promptly sat down. The well supported chair allowed him to relax, leaning back and then forward as if to get to work. The station was overseeing a gate, his job was simple, make sure anyone who's not supposed to be there isn't there.
The long hour turned into hours as the dull passing of scientist after boring scientist walked in and out of the gate, flashing their keycards at the reader. He managed to find a new show to binge on a tablet someone always left at this post, if he ever found that person, they would be treated to a round of drinks. On Shinji's fifth hour, he noticed that his terminal was blinking red, glancing over he noticed it was an order.
"God what do THEY want now?" let out Shinji, aiming his frustration at the station's commanding officers. Opening the order, he realized it was just sent. It read along the lines of All Level 4 personnel, report to debrief. Bring your guns. His way of wording was infinitely more easy to understand than the faux-intellectual jargon they always bust out for orders. He hid the tablet in the usual spot, in a small crack between the main terminal and camera feeds. Grabbing his rifle and handgun, he double timed over to the debrief on this level. He passed some Privates and the space port. He noticed some other marines joining in his half jog, half run. Entering the debrief, he counted 44 marines and the scariest batch of commanding officers he's ever seen.
The officers motioned him to take a seat in the dim room, the only light source being the screen which was just the blank grey that usually accompanies pre-brief conversations like, What do you think we're gonna do, You feeling lucky?, or Hey, Lieutenant Keegan is looking cute today. Normal marine things. Taking his seat next to the buffest marine he's ever seen and some guy who looks like he just joined to get his education. It was another three minutes of waiting until Colonel Pixis shouted everyone to attention.
"At ease soldiers, listen. You will be securing a station. We received an S.O.S. at 1200 hours from an unregistered station. We are under obligation of EMA law to investigate this, that's where you lot come in, secure the station, clear any hostiles, and provide any relief to any who isn't shooting you. Pirates and the Outer Ring Liberation Front have been known to feign S.O.S.s to lure troops into traps. You'll be sent out on four troop carriers with fighter support. You'll be packing rebreather helmets and environmental hazard modifications. We don't know what you'll find in there. That's all troops, ready up. You'll find everything you need in the next room." Pixis and his entourage walked out as everyone scrambled over to the next room. Suiting up would've been easier provided they were given more space but that was the one consideration that brass always seemed to ignore.
Glancing at his wrist, he noticed he was assigned as the squad leader for Squad Two. He walked over towards the space port where their transports were waiting. Like the big kid lining up his underclassmen onto the bus, Shinji motioned his squad up. He had two machine gunners, one specialist, one medic, and four riflemen. This squad packed firepower but wasn't anything special.
"Alright, let's try not to die. We'll coordinate with Squad One and Three as the spearheads into the station. So I suggest you get chummy with them on the way there, they'll be right next to us if anything goes to hell." commanded Shinji, being a sergeant had its perks. The squad gave out a half spirited affirmation.
Loading up on transports wasn't all that bad as everyone tried to make it as painless on each other as possible. These kinds of missions had a famously high casualty rate. He didn't worry too much about his survival, this wasn't his first go at a mission like this. Shot up a whole three ranks for his bravery on a mission exactly like this.
One of the squad leaders tried to make some small talk but Shinji just ignored him, he used this precious time for contemplation and strategy. As they neared the station, the fighters pulled back to support their landing, if anything so much as breathed in that space port, it would be lit up, regardless of their friendliness. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't the slightest bit uneasy. He heard the transport dock and he walked over to his squad in the back of the ship.
"Alright, let's get this party started." exclaimed the Squad Three leader. They disembarked in order, Squad One first and Squad Three last.
The space port was empty, no ships were docked except for the transports. The only sounds were the engines and marines milling about. Squads Seven through Nine would keep the port secure and Four through Six would hold up their rear in case of an ambush. Activating infrared sensors yielded nothing in the hallway down from the port.
"Anything over there?" asked the impatient leader of Squad Eight over comms.
"Nothing, can you guys do us a favor and get into one of the computer terminals? We would appreciate some information." replied a frustrated Shinji. No reply. What a hot-shot.
"Coming up on some bodies." a medic stated. He didn't bother to figure out if it was his squad's. They all sounded the same. A medic stepped down to investigate the body, a middle aged man without legs. Even if his rebreather prevented him from smelling, Shinji swore the air started to smell coppery. Nothing like nightmare fuel to aid your sleep.
"Well, we could be dealing with some death cult. They aren't that uncommon." reasoned the squad leader of One. The shrimpy guy he sat next to at the debrief. Sergeant Mastif.
"That could be correct but these marks imply it wasn't a clean cut, it's like it was torn off." replied the medic.
"It is not too uncommon for them to use enhancement drugs," Mastif said, "besides, cults do have some linkage to pirate activities. They could've raided the station, stolen what they wanted and executed everyone aboard."
Their remarks began to annoy Shinji who tuned them out as he began to look around, his infrared sensors lighting the drab hallway. An intersection was coming up, the sensors barely reached in the room up ahead. More bodies.
"Could you shut up, instead of speculating about what caused this, we leave that to the professionals." shouted a frustrated Shinji. "We should focus on the mission which is to kill whatever caused this and rescue anyone still alive here." Mastif and the medic fell silent. "Aright, glad we got that out of the way, let's move up, there are more bodies ahead."
The group anxiously moved up to the next room, filled with macabre scenes of gore and viscera. People were just trying to live. He noticed over towards the back of the room that there was an open terminal. Shinji bolted over to it, stepping in a pool of blood on the way. He felt disgusted by that but at least he had something to go off of. The terminal was already logged in.
"Hey, cover me, this probably has some important information. A map at the very least." The squads nodded as they set themselves up in a defensive ring. Shinji looked back at the terminal. There was a station browser. He typed in Station Map, it called up a two-dimensional rendering of the station, 8 stories in total. About half the size of his station. Level 1- Life Support and Vitals, Level 2- NA, Level 3- Garrison, Level 4- Classes V-IX Labs, Level 5- Reactor Core, Level 6- Class IV Labs, Level 7- Space Port and Residential, and Level 8- Bridge. Pretty straight-forward. The anomaly was the existence of NA. It was also below the garrison, as per protocol on research stations, a garrison be stationed above the most valuable or vulnerable levels on a station. Which is normally Vitals and Class VII through IX laboratories which covered biological/radiological/chemical contaminants, weapons research and design, and ship systems. The most closely guarded secrets of the Earth-Mars Alliance
This station proved to be strange and disturbing at every corner. He typed Level 2 and the computer yielded an Access Denied. Whatever is in there, they didn't want anyone to find out. He backed away from the terminal.
"Alright, I want someone from the rear guard on this, I don't care what squad. Just investigate this. We need to go to Level 2 to find out what's going on. There should be an elevator that could take us down. We will likely need to get through some checkpoints so we need to grab some plasma cutters. Someone radio Squad Nine to see if they have any back at the space port." Shinji ordered, taking a commanding presence. He readied his rifle and carefully stepped over the pool of blood this time.
He sat down, formulating his plan as a private from Squad Nine ran up with two plasma cutters. Squads Four, Five, and Six were waiting in the hallway, anxious to step in the room of carnage. Squad Seven ran up to the room, covering their specialist as she began to fly through the computers menus in a frantic search for anything of use.
Shinji moved with his squad into a foyer that tried desperately to make you not feel like you're in hell but failed. A large elevator stood in the middle of it all. The signs read residences were to the left and right of the entrance they came from, the path straight ahead from the elevator was some sort of entertainment or commercial zone.
"Squad Four, Five, and Six, check this area for survivors. If you don't find any, join back up with us." requested Shinji, he was speaking to his equals. It was more of a suggestion but the traumatized squads were probably too scared to protest or go further down.
Shinji and his squad as well as One and Three filed into the elevator which only went down to Level 3. The group of 30 marines anxiously readied their weapons, ready to shoot whatever stood in their way. The doors opened to yet another nightmarish scene, scores of soldiers in a pile, dismembered, bloody, and quiet. The whole station was too quiet. The sensors still read their bodies as warm. Carefully sidestepping them, the marines filed over to a gate that read RESTRICTED ACCESS. While two marines began to cut through, Shinji looked around the area and noticed a massive hole in the floor. Looking down, he saw an empty hallway.
"You guys can stop, we have another way in." stated Shinji. The marines stopped cutting and walked over.
"What caused this?" inquired one of his machine gunners. The marines began to chatter as Shinji hopped down.
"Someone set up a rope." requested Mastif as he jumped down next to Shinji.
Fairly soon, all of the marines were down in Level 2. Shinji delved further into the dark corridors, busted upon labs left and right. Bodies galore. After a few minutes of searching, they found the main lab.
Upon entering, they were greeted by a blue light illuminating the vast room. Papers strewn about as if those who worked here left in a panic. He glanced over to a metal closet, the door was pierced from the outside and blood dripped from it. Holding back some vomit, he stumbled across a paper titled Project Walrider, the paper was full of science jargon he didn't grasp but the gist was that this was an experiment into artificial life. The marine, disgusted at the perversion of human curiosity, threw the paper down.
"Something wrong Sarge?" asked one of his privates. Shinji, not wanting to look weak, shook his head.
"I think we know enough." stated the squad leader for Three. Shinji didn't bother to learn his name. Most of the marines nodded in agreement. "Lets get-"
He was abruptly cut off by a scream outside the lab. Everyone readied their guns as two of their riflemen burst in and diving under some desks. There was a pool of blood by the door. They heard an ear piercing wail as a creature walked in. Standing at three meters with five black, glassy eyes. The red tinted skin either hints at dried blood or a natural skin color. 4 arms as wide as a man's thigh and with sharpened claws covered in blood. Skin shifting, defying comprehension as it undulated wildy, plates of armor shifting about.
"Fire!" screamed Mastif as every marine in the room opened a volley of indiscriminate bullets and energy rounds. Shinji unloaded one whole magazine before bolting towards a backdoor that led god-knows where. Glancing back, he saw the creature had shrugged off every single bullet. It grabbed one of the marines under a desk and threw it at a machine gunner from Squad One. Both were bleeding and out cold.
He bolted, Shinji cursing himself for his cowardice and not being able to run fast enough. No better than the man dead in the closet. Figures, a hero one day, a coward the next. Attempting to radio the squads above yielded nothing. There were inhibitors to comms on this level. He heard the screams of his once comrades echo through the corridor. He burst through another door and then another, the screams growing more and more distant. There must've been a million doors in this lab but none led to an exit.
An open security station invited the weary marine. Stepping in, he noticed another open terminal, a guard who was impaled lay over it. Moving the corpse aside, he managed to patch into the comms of the upper levels. His gloved hands struggled to find the right keys as they were all caked in blood. He set the message to loop.
"This is Sergeant Yamazaki speaking. The mission needs to be scrubbed. Get the hell out of here, there's an invincible monster!" he spoke into the microphone. He was shaking, terrified of what would happen to him. At least he could save the squads upstairs. He sat down and began to sob. He won't be able to go home and pursue his dreams, he won't be able to find love, go on that date, or banter with Jenkins anymore. He felt wrong that he was able to live up to this point as he could pretty much guarantee his comrades were dead.
He heard the heavy footsteps of what he could assume was the Walrider. It peered into the room to see a calm Shinji, accepting his fate. Knowing that running will only result in a more painful death. If he was going to die, it was on his terms. The monster stepped closer, staring at the marine. His face was obscured but underneath lay a calm, serene expression. He wasn't ready to die nor did he want to. He just accepted it.
The Walrider stepped away and walked off. The bane of mankind had spared it's first. Shinji, denied a righteous death.
"Kill me. Kill me, monster!" Shinji bolted out to an empty hallway. Stunned, he slid down onto the cold floor. "Why me?!"