We wake up from Cryo sleep, responding to a distress call to a distant backwater colony. However, the USS Alexandria encounters a derelict cargo ship. LT Alabark sends our squad on a drop ship to investigate. Our Squad Leader, Garth Pawolski, pilots the drop ship and John is the first one off as we touch down. Immediately, we already realize things are not right. Lights are out and everything seems completely dead. There is a door nearby that is partially open, looks as through it has been pried open. John tries to repair the door, but the motors are shot, so Raul gives him a hand as they both pull the door open. Then we immediately find a dead body, blood everywhere. Raul yells at Sargent Pawolski to come look at their findings. As Lochlann comments on how this is no longer an ordinary distress call, John notices a damaged console in the room, and manages to get it operational. The Weyland Yutani logo appears before the terminal comes online. John managed to pull the crew manifest, counting for 27 personnel, despite that the ship is designed for a crew of 30. Lochlann hears something banging in the vents, he looks up to notice one has been smashed open, blood trailing from it. John then announces there is a criminal in the manifest by the name of Jensen Thomson, was arrested for theft of food and supplies as well as being detained for delusions of paranoia. Garth gives orders to shoot on sight, since we are not the Marshall's. Zack then inspects a vent and deduces from the damage that something emerged from the vents and killed the guy before us. Raul questions what kind of person would be able to do such a thing. However, he is interrupted when John announces he had found a notepad. Apparently the ship was launched from the colony, the crew were fleeing from the planets surface in hopes of escaping some unknown creatures and calling for help, but then the rest of the writing is smudged out by blood stains.
Garth concludes: "So it looks like these folks escaped some colony. But brought a little something nasty with them on accident. Judging from how relaxed this note's written and the blood spattered over it, I can't say they made it too far from the colony. Likely the one on this planet."
Garth radios the Alexandria and reports what we discovered. Lieutenant Alabark tells us that their sending an additional squad onto the opposite side of the ship as back up and to rendezvous at Engineering. Everyone agrees to the plan, but before we proceed, we clear out the last remaining room in the arrivals lobby. We find several photocopiers and a coffee machine, there's also couch and a TV on the wall flickering the Weyland logo, along with a cold cup of coffee still on the table.
Asher reaches for it and grabs it.
Garth: "Don't drink the damn Coffee."
Asher "drinks it anyway."
Raul: "Seriously man?"
Garth: "Fuckin` had ONE job.. and you goofed."
Asher then spits out the coffee
Asher: "It's bloody decaf, man. How could I know, it's Weyland. They're drinking the best stuff while we get the processed bullshit."
Raul: "You don't even know where that's been."
Garth: "STOP TALKING ABOUT THE GOD DAMN COFFEE!"
Asher: "How about the good old "hearts and minds", sarge?"
Garth: "Keep your minds empty and shut your stupid thoughts in your heart, that's current orders."
Zack: "And watch the fucking vents"
Raul then looks over to Private Mic, who's casually leaning on the wall adjacent from the room, (This was his first deployment) looking at us wondering what the heck is taking so long.
Raul: "Stop day dreaming Mickey, this could go to hell in an instant."
As Mic picks up his rifle and flamer, John then begins to work on a jammed door nearby, but Garth interrupts him.
Garth: "Leave the doors, we gotta meet the second squad so we can get the power up, then we can investigate."
John nods and the rest of the squad forms up on Garth as he leads the way to the Engineering section of the ship. As they proceed down the dark halls, they are then blocked by a blast door. The team discovers that the walls and portions of the blast door are covered with a black goop.
Raul: Fantastic...
John: What is this?
Zack: Great...
Garth: I don't know what it is, but if you start licking it, I'll hit you
Raul chuckles at the Sargent's remark, John begins to inspect the unknown substance.
John: "This is similar too...Tree Resin.."
Asher: "Well, someone split shitty coffee here. And I ain't putting that in my mouth."
Raul: "When does coffee get that thick though?"
Asher: "Leave it for two weeks and it slowly becomes sentient."
Raul gives a look of mild disgust when Garth breaks the silence.
Garth: "Alright, try not to touch this stuff too much, you might catch somethin', now keep movin.'"
John: "Uhm...We should head towards the meeting point."
Garth: "Yeah, we're gonna need to take the scenic route."
Raul: "Eh..Define... Scenic.. Sargent."
Garth: "Probably more sticky shit, spilt coffee, maybe dead colonists."
Garth: "Fun stuff"
Raul grumbles a bit as he hefts his Smartgun, the servos move to support its weight.
Then something echoes over Garths radio, it was radio chatter from Bravo team, static blocked out most of the transmission, but enough words were made out to give the impression they ran into trouble.
John finds something odd about the wall as we begin to move, he notices something smeared out by all the resin, he begins to wipe it away, but it keeps getting stuck on his hands, making the work difficult.
John: "This is too sticky, but its a sign.. it says" He then points East. "Security is over there"
He then points North, saying the door leads to the Cargo bay, however the door was covered with a blast door with a warning sign that flashed "Depressurization."
Garth: "Alright keep an eye out for any doors marked as entrances to the cargo bay and make sure you never open them. I don't wanna deal with space as well as whatever's killing these colonists."
The Hallway soon forks, one leading to the Engineering Bay, the other to the Security wing. Zack looks through the Night Vision Scope on his M42A Sniper Rifle.
Zack: "More of that resin shit down the engineering hall. A lot of it."
Garth: "Might be some clues to whats going on, in Security. We'll hit there first."
Raul: "I'm with that, intel is always a good thing."
The team stumbles upon a security checkpoint, as John opens the door, he finds a bloated corpse, with an arm missing, and the other clutching a revolver too its chest.
John: "Uhm.. Mister Garth.. I think you should see this"
Raul: "uhgg... what smells like shit..?
John: "Probably this corpse"
John points past the door as Raul and the rest of the squad make their way in.
Asher studies the corpse, the face has severe burns, with most of the left side of its face missing. The bloatedness was from several days of decomposition.
Raul: "holy fuck.. never seen anything like that before.."
Garth: "Burnt? by some kind of acid maybe?"
Raul pokes at the corpse with the barrel of his gun.
John: "I thought respecting corpses was part of the culture."
Raul: "I'm not butchering it aren't I?"
Lochlann: "I wonder how his arm got ripped off, explosion? maybe pressure?"
Something catches Zack's eye. causing him to look up.. and notices where the missing arm disappeared too, dangling off a damaged vent. He points to it as our TNR shoulder lamps light it up.
Zack: "Fucking vents again."
Raul: "So what? we have a vent monster or something?"
Garth: "Looks like it."
Zack: "The floor looks rather corroded too."
John: "No entries on "Vent Monster" Please, articulate."
Garth: "Unless people are committing suicide in vents, there's something killin' em and draggin bits in there"
Asher studies the corpse further, discovering that the severed arm was cut clean off with a blade.
Asher: "Bloody surgical cut, man."
Garth: "Maybe a doctor went mad? Started cutting people up randomly.?"
Zack: "Ok so we have something in the vents that can cut peoples arms off."
John: "Based on the collected evidence... I think the most likely explanation is raiders."
Zack: "Doesn't seem like raiders."
John: "They kill the crew members, and stuff their bodies in vents."
Garth takes the revolver out of the corpses hands and inspects it. It's an auto revolver that carries 10 bullets, 5 of them are still chambered.
Garth: "Either this guy's a bad shot or whatever we're up against is something tough."
Asher: "Let's be honest, Sarge. Someone's chasing you with a circular saw, wanting to cut your bloody arm off. You've got a revolver. Would you manage to let him do it? Hell nah, it doesn't work that way."
Raul: "what if they caught him off guard?"
John: "Revolver on hand? not likely."
Garth:"I doubt a random civvie would be allowed inside the damn checkpoint."
Raul: "given there's no places for an ambush"
Zack: "They didn't kill them and stuff them into the vents though"
Garth: "Alright judging from the bullet scarring on the walls he didn't miss all his shots" (There were only 2 bullet holes nearby)
Garth "So whatever it is can tank Marshall revolver shots"
John: "We should keep moving towards the rendezvous point."
But after saying that, John notices a console that flickers to life, but just barely since it has bad acid wear.
John: "Uhm... This looks important"
Lochlann: "most people would go down after 3 revolver shots."
Zack: "They attacked from the vents and dragged the victim inside"
Garth "There's not even any blood from whatever he hit."
John logs into the network, most of the data is corrupted, however he managed to recover traces of a document.
Raul: "Whatcha got Tin Hands?"
Lochlann "Hey Sarge I got an idea."
Garth: "There's not even any blood from whatever he hit"
John: "There's a document here..."
Zack: "And that's a really tight squeeze"
Lochlann: "You think the cameras onboard this ship record what they see?"
Garth: "They Should"
Lochlann: "Might be worth investigating"
Garth: "We'll check the computer once the robot's done messin' with it"
John tries to recover the files from the console. However the console is far too damaged too bring up anything useful.
John: "This file is pretty much corrupted, It doesn't contain any useful information."
Garth:"See if you can pull up the camera system on that"
John tries to bring up the Security footage, however the console is unable to download the footage from the Cameras. It would need to be done by manually getting the camera's hard drive.
John: "unable to reconstruct the files."
Raul: "Time to move on then?"
Garth: "We might need a better console.. I'll check the monitors."
Garth enters in a series of commands in the console and it brings up several screens, most of them are dead or static. However, there are two active feeds, one in arrivals that showed our drop ship. The other inside the Security Department, there was nothing noteworthy on the feed aside from an over turned chair.
Garth: "Alright, let's head to Security real quick to check the cameras there."
John: "Anything useful?"
Garth: "Nothing useful on current cams."
John nods as Sargent Pawolski leads the team deeper into the security wing. They find the entrance to the Security department blocked off by shutters, however, a corner looks as though it had been pried open by something squeezing through the opening. Raul Garrison detaches one of his two shoulder lamps and offers it to anyone willing to peer past the opening.
Garth: "If you guys can't jimmy this open, Healy's helping me manhandle this thing."
John notices a maintenance cabinet nearby, he opens it up finding an assortment of tools and a Rail Jack inside. He grabs whatever tools he can carry and brings the Rail Jack over to us. Raul takes up position overseeing the hallway as John begins to pry the shutters open with the Rail Jack. Before we can even attempt to open the door however, a blood curdling scream loudly echos from the Engineering corridor.
Zack: "Sounds like shits kicking off."
Garth: "Alright, forget Security. DOUBLE TIME TO ENGINEERING!"
Lochlann: "I don't think it's the best idea to retreat into the reactor room."
Garth" "Well as bad of a plan it is Lochlann, that's where they are, and it sounds like it's a bit late to change plans.
Asher: "What's the ammo tipped with, again? Some sort of explosive. Explosives and reactors, what could possibly go wrong."
Garth "Just don't miss and you'll be fine"
Asher: "It's not that it'll explode. I'm more concerned about damaging those badonkadonks even further."
As the team rushes down the corridor leading to Engineering, they find more resin on the walls, and it gets thicker with every set of steps they take. The air turns humid and warm as they are suddenly blocked by a large wall of resin sealing the main hallway. Garth's ears manage to pick up sounds of a struggle beyond it.
Zack: "I told you this place was covered in resin."
John: "If this resin is as similar to tree's resin as I think it is... Perhaps fire should clear it."
Garth: "No time to bother with it unless it's directly blocking our path, down one of the doorways, we'll find a way around."
John nods as the team backs into a doorway nearby, eventually bypassing the Resin blockage. As the team closes in on the Reactor room, the heat becomes uncomfortably hot.
Mic: "Holy shit its hot.. lets find another way before we fry."
Raul: "Try dealing with the burning heat of a Jungle planet Mic, this is fucking nothing."
John: "Beware, the radiation from the reactor might be hazardous."
Garth: "We won't be here long... With any luck at least"
Raul: "Lochlann! take the right, I got the left."
Garth: "Mickey keep an eye on our backs with that flamer."
The team proceeds cautiously as they move into the thickest portion of the resin corridors, it is impossible to make out anything ship related.
Mic: "Hey guys.. doesn't this place seem really wacky too you?"
The team surveys their surroundings. Mic was on to something. The ceiling was slopped in a really odd way, yet the floor was even, as though the corridor was designed for a stairway, but with no stairs. It was really disorienting, Garrison rubs his eyes.
Raul: What the fuck..?
Upon further inspection, the team notices pairs of shoes stuck to the walls and ceiling, then they notice a man plastered to the wall with resin. From the looks of it, he is still alive, but just barely.
Lochlann: "Well damn."
Zack: "we are in an alien spiders nest, I'm calling it now."
Garth: "Mickey, cut this guy down."
The team disperses a bit as Mickey attempts to climb the wall to get the man free. Raul is behind the group when he suddenly raises his SmartGun, ready to fire.
Raul: "Guys! Somethings in here..."
Garth: "Get those SmartGuns at the ready!"
Mic: "Oh come on guys there's nothing to worry about, we got this."
Mic lets go of his flamer and begins to use the fuel igniter to light a cigarette.
Garth: "Keep that flamer up Mic!"
Loclann: "Mickey this is not the time to be lighting cigs. We just found some guy stuck to the roof after everyone else we found was dead Ya dungus."
Raul: "You guys hear that?"
Mic pays no attention to Garth or Lochlann as he begins to puff his cigarette, then he feels something dripping on his shoulder. Before anyone has a chance to react. Something suddenly grabs his shoulders and pulls him up to the ceiling.
Raul: "MICKEY!"
Garth and John make a lunge to grab his legs as his rifle and flamer fall to the ground, but aren't fast enough. Asher opens fire on the unknown figure, but the bullets ricochet off a vent as Mic is pulled in. His screams echo for a moment before they are silenced.
Garth: "I TOLD HIM TO KEEP THAT DAMN FLAMER UP!"
Zack: "And I told you guys to WATCH THE DAMN VENTS!"
Before anymore words are spoken, Garths motion tracker begins to go haywire. He pulls it out, revealing several signatures lurking around behind them. Raul, hearing the beeps remains vigilant, ready to shoot whatever moves.
Garth: WE GOTTA GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE! LIKE, YESTERDAY!
John: "Negative We have to return to the rendezvous point Sargent."
Garth "Shit, you're right, we gotta keep moving forward. I heard those other guys shooting earlier, they gotta still be alive."
Zack: "I couldn't agree more lets gyro"
John nods, but before they can even step forward, they hear Garrison yelling.
Raul: "WHAT THE HELL!?"
The same pair of arms had grabbed onto Raul's shoulders, he thrashes about trying to get free, but its grip is too strong. No one is close enough to grab him as he is pulled off the ground. Raul drops his Smart Gun and manages to pull out his pistol, blindly firing three shots above his head. A loud inhuman shriek rings out as Raul falls to the ground. The creatures blood splattered on the back of his neck and armor.
Raul: "AAARGGGHHH!! IT'S LIKE MY SKIN IS ON FIRE!"
Garth: "CAN IT SOLDIER! WE GOTTA KEEP MOVING! We don't have time to be wounded! Get the medic to look at it real quick."
John stares at the situation as Raul tries his best to ignore the pain, he grabs his SmartGun as he hastily gets on his feet.
John: "You can receive medical attention when we are in a more secure spot."
Lochlann: "WE'RE FIGHTING GOD DAMN MONSTERS!"
During all the panic, Asher takes a moment to inspect Raul for injuries. Some sort of acid is burning away at the skin under his armor. The armor blocked the worst of it and patching
up the rest was quick and easy.
Raul: "Whatever you did Doc, its working."
Zack: "Let's get the hell out of here!"
Garth Pawolski manages to bark the troops back into some form of order,causing the tension to lessen. For whatever reason, the signatures on the motion tracker begin to back off.
Garth: "Keep your distance from these, things, don't want that acid on you. Doesn't matter what we're fighting as long as it can die, and those bastards look pretty dead. We gotta keep moving to meet that other squad. They're probably in just as much shit as we are."
Then a transmission comes in from the USS Alexandria, ordering all squads to return to the ship due to an unknown vessel approaching the planets orbit.
Alabark: "SHIT! THEIR OPENING FIRE! THEY AR- SSSHHHHHSTKKK"
A few seconds after the transmission cuts out, a gigantic explosion rumbles the ship. The Alexandria was gone, Raul's face goes pale.
Lochlann: "Oh no..."
Zack: "Fuck"
Raul: "Did our ticket home just blow up..?
Lochlann: "let's get the fuck outta dodge, we still got the dropship?
Raul: "WE CAN"T GET THE FUCK OUT OF DODGE! OUR SHIP IS GONE!"
John: "Wait, we don't know, perhaps the ship that was destroyed was the invading ship. And they destroyed comms before being destroyed"
Garth: "We still got the dropship."
Raul: "THE ALEXANDRIA IS GONE! A DROPSHIP ISN'T GONNA GET US ANYWHERE!"
Garth: "Look we can deal with this later, we gotta go meet the other squad like, ASAP"
Raul sighs, then responds.
Raul: "Right, lets go."
The team pushes forward in search of Bravo team. The heat and humidity still intensely uncomfortable. There is so much resin on the walls and floor that everything become unrecognizable. The pathways become winding and the group loses their sense of direction. Then Garth's radio sparks to life again.
Radio: "TOO MA.Y...F.. TH.M... ALPHA.. M-I-A.. ALE..AN..RIA..DES..ROYED..GET..to..the ESCAPE PODS!"
Lochlann: "Well shit."
John: "Sounds like the sweep and secure operation failed. Probability that the other squad goes to the meeting point: 10%"
Garth screams into the radio trying to tell Bravo Leader that they are still alive. but his words don't seem to get through.
John: "Sargent you're doing it wrong. Allow me."
Garth hands the radio over to John. "Get us a commlink to the other squad Tin Hands, we gotta tell em to wait for us."
John tinkers with the radio trying to get a message out. However, despite his best efforts and expertise, the radio refuses to establish a connection.
John: "Unable to connect...Probability the other squad goes to the meeting point: 0%"
Raul & Lochlann: "LET'S MOVE/GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"
Garth: "Keep it calm and watch the damn vents, somebody take Mickey's flamer"
No one volunteers, the team advances closer to the reactor room. There are several doors that are either sealed off with blast doors or resin. John begins to tinker with one leading to the reactor.
John: "I need a second to open this."
Lochlann: "Hold on. If we turn on the power.. Could we open the blast doors? From engineering, I mean Security?
John: "I can open them manually"
Garth: "Let's just get into power monitoring, turn on the power, and keep moving."
John: "There's no need to turn on the power."
Zack: "If we restore power, whatever destroyed our ship will probably destroy this ship."
Garth: "We absolutely need power on, to see."
John nods as he gets the door open, the team reaches the reactor room, a blast door blocks the way inside the Monitoring room. Next to it, a long window, but everything beyond is concealed by darkness. Everyone is busy watching John work on getting the door open. Except for Asher, who takes a moment to peer into the Reactor room through the window. He makes out a long tail moving in the dark. He takes off his shoulder lamp to get a better look, revealing to everyone three massive creatures, far larger then any of the previous ones they encountered, one even larger then the others.
Garth:"Lord have mercy on our souls.."
Raul: "OH MY GOD!"
John: "Fascinating.."
Before the Squad has a chance to react further, the largest one unleashes an ear splitting, gut wrenching scream. Everyone reels back in fear, but Garth falls to his knees.
Zack: "Oh fuck lets get the fuck out!"
John: "Sargent?"
Raul: "SARGE! WE GOTTA GO!"
Garth: "DO YOU SEE HOW BIG THAT THING IS?! SWEET JESUS WE'RE FUCKED!!"
Lochlann: "SNAP OUTTA IT SARGE!"
John: "Garth we have to retreat now."
John and Lochlann pull Garth to his feet, partially dragging him down the corridor. Passing through a doorway, John notices a button. He slams it.
A large blast door slams down on the doorway, sealing the room behind them. Zack calls out to run for the escape pods as the team sprints down the resin layered halls. Suddenly a loud clang echoes behind them as a noticeable dent emerges from the blast door. Without looking back, Raul screams "WHAT THE HELL!? WAS THAT THE DOOR!?!"
John: "Whatever is denting that, it must be pretty big and strong."
All of a sudden, Garth stumbles to his knees, clutching at the sides of his head.
Garth: "AHH! FUCK! IT'S IN MY HEAD!"
Everyone stops, asking the Sargent to clarify what he is talking about
Garth: "IT FUCKIN SPOKE TO ME!"
John: "What?"
Raul: "NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GO INSANE, SIR!"
Garth: "I'll..I'll keep that in mind, lets keep movin"
Garth jumps back on his feet and the rest of the squad continue their frantic running, a loud crash is heard in the distance followed by a loud shriek. John finds another blast door further down the hallway and closes it. But then the team notices bodies of Colonial Marines up ahead. Likely from Bravo team, Garth falls to his knees near one of them, the team finds out that it was the Bravo Squad Leader, the other is a Smart Gunner while the other is a Grunt. To everyone's amazement, the Grunt is still alive.
Raul collects the dead Smart Gunners ammo, as Lochlann searches the dead Squad leader. He finds a important looking document, he puts it in his pack, stating that if he should die, someone needs to take it. Garth clumsily collects the dog tags of the dead marines and pockets them. Asher is tending to the surviving grunt, who is regaining consciousness.
The Marine begins to explain that once Bravo entered Engineering, they got ambushed by a large number of the creatures. They fought their way through but the Squad Leader gave the order to retreat. The Squad Leader and himself ended up getting cut off, but then he randomly lost consciousness. Something then screeches through the hallway, the general ambiance growing quiet as something rams into the blast door behind them... It sounds huge and heavy.
Raul: "Let's hope there's still an escape pod left."
John: "I recommend running"
Zack shoulders the injured Bravo as the team resumes their fleeing. The resin begins to thin out, hinting that they are getting close to Arrivals. The Bravo marine suddenly begins to start spazzing and violently shaking as he falls to the ground. Asher quickly tries to determine whats wrong with him when the Bravo's torso suddenly begins to expand outward. Everyone can only look on in horror as a Snake like creature bursts out of the marines chest.
Raul: "JESUS CHRIST!"
Everyone immediately shoots their weapons at the larva until it and the Bravo's body are nothing but an unrecognizable pile of flesh and blood.
Zack: "Fuck this place! fuck it all!"
John: "I concur, but remember, we have to keep moving"
Garth just stares at the remains.
Garth: "WE'RE UP SHIT CREEK WITHOUT A PADDLE AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM DAMNIT!"
Lochlann: "Could everyone stop panicking?"
Garth takes the Dog Tags identifying the eviscerated corpse. Asher senses something, he looks up, noticing a vent on the ceiling, and something was watching them. By reflex, he pulls up his rifle and opens fire, but he was too early as the creature quickly ducks back into the vent. Then it lunges out, falling towards Zack.
Raul: "OH GOD DAMNIT!"
Raul opens fire, trying to intercept the creature, but his aim is off as his bullets fly above it. The creature pounces on Zack, trying to claw his face off. John immediately grabs onto the creatures tail, using his artificial strength to slam the creature into the wall. Raul takes advantage of the opportunity and guns the stunned creature down, acid splatters onto John as his synthetic skin melts away, revealing the metal skeleton on his limbs.
Raul just realizes the consequences of his actions "OOoh... sorry".
John: "I can repair this later, please, proceed."
Garth's radio once again comes to life with more radio chatter from Bravo team.
Radio: " HOLD TH.. LINE! GOD DAMNIT! THEY LAUNCHED TWO OF THE PODS TOO EARLY!"
Raul: "THEY BETTER NOT FUCKING LEAVE US!"
John: "Probability of success: 40%, we should proceed."
Lochlann: "LET"S GO!"
The team makes it to arrivals, they hear gunfire in the distance, they stop in their tracks as they see more creatures rushing down the hallways, completely oblivious to their presence as they charge at the escaping Marines. The team decides to capitalize on their preemptive strike and rushes the creatures from behind, guns blazing. As they fall to the ground, Zack turns the reactive camouflage on his ghillie suit into a rainbow in hopes of being less likely to be shot at by the defending Marines.
Zack gets odd stares from everyone. "Majestic.." John says with an obvious hint of sarcasm.
The team arrives just in time to see the second last escape pod departing. Zack, Asher and Garth prepare to board, they notice a dead marine sitting in one of the seats, with only enough room for everyone still alive, Garth takes the bodies Dog Tags and the three of them toss the body out. One of the creatures pounces on John. Raul and Lochlann turn round and open fire on the creature. However this ends up doing more harm then good as the acidic blood pours onto John, severely damaging his systems. John struggles to his feet as dozens of creatures pour out of the hallways and into arrivals.
Raul: "LOCHLANN! FUCK THEM UP!"
John limps towards Raul and Lochlann as they lay down suppressing fire, shrieks and machine gun fire echo throughout the room.
Raul: "COME ON TIN HANDS!"
Zack: "DAMMNIT TIN HANDS! RUN!!!"
As John boards the pod, Zack deploys a claymore beside the pod door, so that if a creature tries to board the pod, they'll be blown to smithereens. Lochlann breaks formation and runs for the pod as Raul keeps marching back, continuing to fire his gun. The xeno's seem to be unable to gain ground until a Praetorian bursts out of the mob and charges at Garrison, undeterred by the hail of bullets.
Raul panics as he turns tail and runs for the pod, but the Praetorian manages to catch up too him, setting off the Claymore with Raul inside the blast. Raul is sent flying several feet away from the pod, pelted with shrapnel and acidic gibs as the Praetorian explodes into pieces. He doesn't even scream as he hits the ground, his SmartGun snaps back into his Harness. Garth springs into action, bolting out of the pod.
Garth: "HOLD ON GARRISON! I"M COMING FOR YA!"
Garth sprints towards Raul as Zack takes up position to provide covering fire. Grabbing hold of him, Garth unloads his flamer to create a wall of fire. The creatures advance is halted until a familiar ear splitting screech echoes throughout the ship. As Garth picks up Raul and rushes for the escape pod, the Queen bursts from the flames and rams the pod, narrowly missing Garth as he is sent flying. Raul bounces off the doorway into the pod and falls inside. Zack holds his ground, his mind set on only one thing, what is beyond his scope. He fires a single armor piercing bullet at the Queen, and his aim strikes true as the bullet pierces through the queens head crest. exploding a chunk of its head. The Queen clutches its head as it reels back, retreating past the wall of fire. Zack doesn't waste a second, he quickly chambers a new round and fires into the flames. A shriek from a different creature rings out. (The Second praetorian took the shot for the Queen)
The Xeno's are charged with rage as they rush through the flames and begin to close in on the pod, Lochlann drops his SmartGun and runs to save his stunned Squad Leader as Zack gets inside the pod. In an amazing feat of strength, Lochlann hauls Garth over his shoulders and quickly darts for the pod, firing Garth's flame thrower to cover his escape. John helps Lochlann inside and quickly presses the eject button.
But the button is jammed
John smashes the button again, but it doesn't budge. Garth recovers and runs to smash the button
But the button still refuses to budge
Zack decides to take a resourceful approach and smashes the butt of his Sniper Rifle against the button.
Zack's rifle bounces off. The Xeno's can be seen through the pod doors.
Seeing Zack recoil backwards, Lochlann smashes the button.
but to no avail
Noticing that they are all about to die, Asher rushes out of his seat and charges forward, punching the launch button.
THE POD DOOR SLAMS SHUT AS IT IS EJECTED INTO SPACE TOWARDS THE PLANET BELOW
John: "Were out boys.. were out."
Lochlann: "Oh thank god."
Everyone takes a sigh of relief. John looks out the window, then proceeds to take out his tools and begins to repair the damage to his body. Asher kneels down and inspects the bio-monitors on Raul Garrison's M3 Armored Vest. He is still alive, and with that, immediately begins to work on removing the shrapnel and patching up the cuts and burns on his legs and torso. Raul slowly comes back to his senses.
Raul: "Th-thanks... I thought I was dead for sure..."
Asher: "I ain't playing god today, but fuck me it was close"
Lochlann takes out the document that he picked up from the dead Squad Leader. It was a report from a group of scientists from the colony, explaining the creatures biology,funcitons and where they came from.
Garth: "Okay so quick recap, the Alexandria's fucked, the Derelict is fucked, and the survivors of Team 2 are somewhere planet-side. When we land, we need to establish contact and find Team 2. And then setup somewhere safe until we figure out a way to contact the USCM. Maybe there's something in the colony that note mentioned that can help"
Garth: "Asher, I think I took some rib damage, so come check that out when you're done with Garrison if you can"
Zack: "Let's not go through all that again... also, I got burned too medic"
As the escape pod enters the planets atmosphere, parachutes eject, slowing its descent as it slams onto the planets surface. The team marches out, seeing the colony in the distance, along with 3 other escape pods nearby.
END OF CHAPTER 1
Spoiler:
We wake up from Cryo sleep, responding to a distress call to a distant backwater colony. However, the USS Alexandria encounters a derelict cargo ship. LT Alabark sends our squad on a drop ship to investigate. Our Squad Leader, Garth Pawolski, pilots the drop ship and John is the first one off as we touch down. Immediately, we already realize things are not right. Lights are out and everything seems completely dead. There is a door nearby that is partially open, looks as through it has been pried open. John tries to repair the door, but the motors are shot, so Raul gives him a hand as they both pull the door open. Then we immediately find a dead body, blood everywhere. Raul yells at Sargent Pawolski to come look at their findings. As Lochlann comments on how this is no longer an ordinary distress call, John notices a damaged console in the room, and manages to get it operational. The Weyland Yutani logo appears before the terminal comes online. John managed to pull the crew manifest, counting for 27 personnel, despite that the ship is designed for a crew of 30. Lochlann hears something banging in the vents, he looks up to notice one has been smashed open, blood trailing from it. John then announces there is a criminal in the manifest by the name of Jensen Thomson, was arrested for theft of food and supplies as well as being detained for delusions of paranoia. Garth gives orders to shoot on sight, since we are not the Marshall's. Zack then inspects a vent and deduces from the damage that something emerged from the vents and killed the guy before us. Raul questions what kind of person would be able to do such a thing. However, he is interrupted when John announces he had found a notepad. Apparently the ship was launched from the colony, the crew were fleeing from the planets surface in hopes of escaping some unknown creatures and calling for help, but then the rest of the writing is smudged out by blood stains.
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