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I know it's been forever since chapter one and several of you know i was threatened with a lawsuit however although i said at the time i would not continue the story it was also not a good time to do so personally. Not setting times for when chapters come out, theres all the time in the world. And it's all about being inspired at the right moment. Also writing a Morgan story which is coming along well. I personally felt this chapter was a bit weak but i'm trying to get back into the story. I lost this twice back when i was posting it a week after chapter one which discouraged me alot and it also means each chapter two was different. Hopefully this was the best of the three versions. Thanks.
~~~*~~~
'We who are the children of the stars and never know that which we are, have come unto this holy place and leave only devastation in it's place'
The words came unbidden to Malach's thoughts as he stared at the fallout below him and Gelus. His companion injured from leaping out of their recon rover Malach was at a loss over what to do.
'Gelus you need to see this'
The structure in question was massive, several hundred feet high. It reminded him of pictures back on old earth of monoliths. It was solid black and smoothly sharpened to a point at its tip. Other than that the wreckage, flames and smoke obscured the rest if there was anything more. Malach thought of the shockwave he had experienced and shivered uncontrollably. The Unity pod they had been sent to retrieve had caused the explosion and Malach could only assume it had been some type of missile, which was a ridiculous thing. The United Nations who had commissioned the Unity would never have agreed to such armaments. This was a colony mission to Alpha Centauri not a tactical assault on it. Having heard no reply from Gelus, Malach returned his attention to the injured comrade.
'What's wrong buddy did you hit your head?'
He began to probe his companion's bio-suit which was supposed to act as armor and as protection from prolonged exposure to Chiron's atmosphere away from human settlements where the nitrogen was significantly lessened. As he pressed gently against his friend's ribs Gelus convulsed and blood splattered against his visor.
'Oh my God'
Without a second thought Malach ripped Gelus's visor off to reveal his buddy's hagrid pallid face. His dark hair plastered by sweat to his forehead. He looked half dead. Suddenly a hoarse whisper incredibly light carried over to him.
'I'm dying'
'No your not, you will not die on me Gelus, what the hell am i going to say to your wife. Our unit will be here soon, your gonna be fine. Just take it easy'
'The fall it....it punctured a lung...my ribs...'
'Wait there's a medical kit in the rover, it might have survived the impact. Wait right there.'
'Do i look...like i am going anywhere?' Gelus breathed.
His breathing was rattling now and Malach raced for his life down the steep slope. He was running too fast at that angle but he had to hurry. **** he couldn't control it, if he slipped...Malach slipped.
The xenofungus carpeting the slope was immensely smooth and as Malach hit the carpet it carried his velocity shooting him down the slope like a slide straight towards the flaming wreckage. He hit a length of steel hard in the shoulder and the shock on his joints was like a knife stab. But Malach had no time for pain, getting up he began to search the wreckage, trying to pay no heed to the alien statue. Plenty of time for that later he decided. Eventually he found the cabin section where the seats were on fire. Locked securely underneath was the medical box in its metal casing. Designed to survive such wreckages though Malach was surprised it had survived the explosion. He yanked it out the hot metal searing his skin under the bio suit. He began to race up the slope when something glinted in the sunlight to his left. Stopping he squinted at it. Rovers! He began racing up the slope in earnest. His unit had arrived. About halfway up the slope to Gelus Malach watched as the Rovers roared down the slope with far better track control than he and his pal. But...they weren't recon units, they weren't his unit.
'Oh hell' he whispered.
Of course the shockwave must have alerted everyone who was in the vicinity. Suddenly he realized they were headed straight for Gelus's prone figure and they weren't slowing down.
'STOP' Malach screamed dropping the medkit, he raced up the slope forlornly trying to reach his friend in time. This time when disaster struck the suit didn't shield his eyes as he wished they had done. As he raced up the slope he watched the rover units crunch over Gelus's body. They didn't even slow down like they had registered it. They couldn't have missed him. They had intentionally killed him. Murderers!
Unclipping his laser rifle Malach aimed it at one of the unit's nearest to him and accelerating. His mind went back to college, on Earth.
'Sometimes it's hard to focus on the objective when emotion clouds us' Ron Urik said. He owned the shooting range and gave out lessons to kid's interested in learning.
'But how to you blank your emotions?' Malach asked. His acned face listening intently.
'By not thinking' he answered.
Malach didn't think he merely aimed precisely and fired. The front left wheel of the unit exploded forcing the front down and the back to flip over. It did several flips over Malach until it crashed further down the slop into an explosion of flames.
Malach ignored it focusing on the tinted windshield of the next target. But as one the last four rover unit's banked left sharply stopping several yards further up the slope. He could see the people getting out on the protected side. Then Malach looked around, They had a shield of rovers and he was in the wide open fungalside.
'Uh Oh'
'If you move we will shoot you' came a deep commanding voice.
It was male and gruff and spoke years of hardship and trial. He looked to the originating point and saw a beast stand up. At least seven foot he was a barrel of muscle packed into flesh and bone. These people weren't wearing bio-suit's they had perhaps not invented the technology yet. Which faction were they he wondered?
But the fact that the man could crush Malach's skull with one hand was secondary at first glance. What brought the description of 'beast' to Malach's mind was the malformed face. Half of it seemed to have melted leaving a twisted mouth and evil looking eye on his right side. He was terrifying to look at.
He began to stomp towards Malach with an evil smile.
'You are hereby a prisoner of 'The Believers' heretic. You better have useful information because i think i would love personally torturing you in the Lord's name.'
'Oh you gotta be ****ting m...'
~~~*~~~
'Red Rover the Believer's have entered the topographical indentation shall we pursue and engage?'
'Hold off, Red Leader we are picking up Malach and Gelus's distress signal.'
'That settles it. Our boy's are in trouble. Two by Four attack formation.'
~~~*~~~
'...e....'
A squad of six recon rover's flew over the slope rise, laser barrage fired at the Believer's unguarded flank.
'SPARTAN ATTACK'
Someone screamed. The man about to arrest Malach turned around and ran back to his squad and began firing at the incoming recon units. Malach didn't wait he ran for his life down towards the alien structure to find a secure hiding place. As he did the grief over Gelus's death began to set in and the hot tears traced patterns across his cheek. Down by the structure he saw something he had missed earlier. There was a stairway going into the ground. It lead underneath the structure.
There was an explosion behind him and he saw one of his unit's rovers flip in the air.
Without another thought he rushed down into the darkness.
TO BE CONTINUED...
'We who are the children of the stars and never know that which we are, have come unto this holy place and leave only devastation in it's place'
The words came unbidden to Malach's thoughts as he stared at the fallout below him and Gelus. His companion injured from leaping out of their recon rover Malach was at a loss over what to do.
'Gelus you need to see this'
The structure in question was massive, several hundred feet high. It reminded him of pictures back on old earth of monoliths. It was solid black and smoothly sharpened to a point at its tip. Other than that the wreckage, flames and smoke obscured the rest if there was anything more. Malach thought of the shockwave he had experienced and shivered uncontrollably. The Unity pod they had been sent to retrieve had caused the explosion and Malach could only assume it had been some type of missile, which was a ridiculous thing. The United Nations who had commissioned the Unity would never have agreed to such armaments. This was a colony mission to Alpha Centauri not a tactical assault on it. Having heard no reply from Gelus, Malach returned his attention to the injured comrade.
'What's wrong buddy did you hit your head?'
He began to probe his companion's bio-suit which was supposed to act as armor and as protection from prolonged exposure to Chiron's atmosphere away from human settlements where the nitrogen was significantly lessened. As he pressed gently against his friend's ribs Gelus convulsed and blood splattered against his visor.
'Oh my God'
Without a second thought Malach ripped Gelus's visor off to reveal his buddy's hagrid pallid face. His dark hair plastered by sweat to his forehead. He looked half dead. Suddenly a hoarse whisper incredibly light carried over to him.
'I'm dying'
'No your not, you will not die on me Gelus, what the hell am i going to say to your wife. Our unit will be here soon, your gonna be fine. Just take it easy'
'The fall it....it punctured a lung...my ribs...'
'Wait there's a medical kit in the rover, it might have survived the impact. Wait right there.'
'Do i look...like i am going anywhere?' Gelus breathed.
His breathing was rattling now and Malach raced for his life down the steep slope. He was running too fast at that angle but he had to hurry. **** he couldn't control it, if he slipped...Malach slipped.
The xenofungus carpeting the slope was immensely smooth and as Malach hit the carpet it carried his velocity shooting him down the slope like a slide straight towards the flaming wreckage. He hit a length of steel hard in the shoulder and the shock on his joints was like a knife stab. But Malach had no time for pain, getting up he began to search the wreckage, trying to pay no heed to the alien statue. Plenty of time for that later he decided. Eventually he found the cabin section where the seats were on fire. Locked securely underneath was the medical box in its metal casing. Designed to survive such wreckages though Malach was surprised it had survived the explosion. He yanked it out the hot metal searing his skin under the bio suit. He began to race up the slope when something glinted in the sunlight to his left. Stopping he squinted at it. Rovers! He began racing up the slope in earnest. His unit had arrived. About halfway up the slope to Gelus Malach watched as the Rovers roared down the slope with far better track control than he and his pal. But...they weren't recon units, they weren't his unit.
'Oh hell' he whispered.
Of course the shockwave must have alerted everyone who was in the vicinity. Suddenly he realized they were headed straight for Gelus's prone figure and they weren't slowing down.
'STOP' Malach screamed dropping the medkit, he raced up the slope forlornly trying to reach his friend in time. This time when disaster struck the suit didn't shield his eyes as he wished they had done. As he raced up the slope he watched the rover units crunch over Gelus's body. They didn't even slow down like they had registered it. They couldn't have missed him. They had intentionally killed him. Murderers!
Unclipping his laser rifle Malach aimed it at one of the unit's nearest to him and accelerating. His mind went back to college, on Earth.
'Sometimes it's hard to focus on the objective when emotion clouds us' Ron Urik said. He owned the shooting range and gave out lessons to kid's interested in learning.
'But how to you blank your emotions?' Malach asked. His acned face listening intently.
'By not thinking' he answered.
Malach didn't think he merely aimed precisely and fired. The front left wheel of the unit exploded forcing the front down and the back to flip over. It did several flips over Malach until it crashed further down the slop into an explosion of flames.
Malach ignored it focusing on the tinted windshield of the next target. But as one the last four rover unit's banked left sharply stopping several yards further up the slope. He could see the people getting out on the protected side. Then Malach looked around, They had a shield of rovers and he was in the wide open fungalside.
'Uh Oh'
'If you move we will shoot you' came a deep commanding voice.
It was male and gruff and spoke years of hardship and trial. He looked to the originating point and saw a beast stand up. At least seven foot he was a barrel of muscle packed into flesh and bone. These people weren't wearing bio-suit's they had perhaps not invented the technology yet. Which faction were they he wondered?
But the fact that the man could crush Malach's skull with one hand was secondary at first glance. What brought the description of 'beast' to Malach's mind was the malformed face. Half of it seemed to have melted leaving a twisted mouth and evil looking eye on his right side. He was terrifying to look at.
He began to stomp towards Malach with an evil smile.
'You are hereby a prisoner of 'The Believers' heretic. You better have useful information because i think i would love personally torturing you in the Lord's name.'
'Oh you gotta be ****ting m...'
'Red Rover the Believer's have entered the topographical indentation shall we pursue and engage?'
'Hold off, Red Leader we are picking up Malach and Gelus's distress signal.'
'That settles it. Our boy's are in trouble. Two by Four attack formation.'
'...e....'
A squad of six recon rover's flew over the slope rise, laser barrage fired at the Believer's unguarded flank.
'SPARTAN ATTACK'
Someone screamed. The man about to arrest Malach turned around and ran back to his squad and began firing at the incoming recon units. Malach didn't wait he ran for his life down towards the alien structure to find a secure hiding place. As he did the grief over Gelus's death began to set in and the hot tears traced patterns across his cheek. Down by the structure he saw something he had missed earlier. There was a stairway going into the ground. It lead underneath the structure.
There was an explosion behind him and he saw one of his unit's rovers flip in the air.
Without another thought he rushed down into the darkness.
TO BE CONTINUED...