Chapter 3: Zero Hour
Colony Ship: Stalwart
Time: 5:43, Earth Time
Date: June 17, 2104
ONE HOUR BEFORE DROP
"Attention!" the man at the far right said in a loud and stern voice. The seven men and women stood in a straight line and looked straight ahead. Yeira Apiricio stood in the middle of the line, trying her hardest to stand still. To her left was Marcus, the 'asshole' of the team. He stood a full foot taller than her and had almost twice the musculature. He might be a total prick, but she could always trust that he'd have her back. To Marcus' left were the twins; Corben and Josiah Siu. Both blonde and same body structure, the only way to differentiate the two was by finding the massive scar across Josiah's back. She never got the details of how it happened, probably from their Marine days. Her eyes drifted to her right and saw the boss enter the locker room. He was an older fellow, Russian as far as she was concerned, mid-70s, always walked tall, and she didn't even know his name. What caught her eye was the scar he had around the right side of his face.
Unlike all the others, she joined just before this colony ship left Earth. The only people she knew were Marcus and the twins, and that was only because they went to high school together. They had been the ones to put in a good word for her.
"Last I checked, it was supposed to be a straight shot to Sol." he complained as he walked in. "Fucking 'coats, always ruining a nice trip." 'Coats', a nickname they gave scientists, because according to them, scientists only ever wear lab coats.
"When does it ever go as planned?" asked a man at the far right. He looked Asian to her, but she didn't know his name. There were at least 40 people in her team, there's no way for her to remember their names. Right now though, only eight, including herself, were awake. Why? She didn't have a clue.
"Well I talked to our dear captain. So here's the rundown." he began to explain, pacing back and forth in front of the line of people. "One of the 'coats found a habitable planet, Captain Fan didn't want to land, so they're sending us and a few 'coats to explore a little."
"Personally, I would've preferred Fan's idea; ignore it and get right back to our original destination. Unfortunately, the head 'coat already contacted our friends at Weyland and they gave his plan a green light." he added.
"So we're going down there and kill any motherfuckers that show any hostility." Yeira said proudly. Almost immediately everyone laughed and agreed with her comment.
"No. We're not." he said with some regret. "Any signs of life, we ignore. We're only 'exploring'." They all groaned in disappointment.
"The fuck are we supposed to do if the 'signs of life' attack us?" asked the woman right next to her.
"Scare them off and jump ship." he replied.
"Then why bother waking us up?" asked Marcus.
"Probably just a precaution."
"If we're supposed to turn tail and run at the first sign of danger there's no point in us being there, sir." said the man standing next to the other woman. Now he was definitely foreign, somewhere from Europe. British if she had to guess, all the accents were the same to her so she didn't exactly know.
"I don't make these orders, I just take them. Now shut the hell up." he ordered. "This is how it's gonna go."
"Corben." he called out.
"Sir."
"You, your brother, and Marcus will take point once we hit the ground. Stay at least three minutes ahead of us."
"Yes, sir." acknowledged Corben.
"Me, Collins, and Aizawa will stay behind you guys with the 'coats. We're only going to explore a one mile radius from where we drop, but I still want updates every two minutes." he kept explaining.
"Sadly, since these people never went to a gym, we'll be going at their pace. So it's going to be a long walk." the foreigner finished, Yeira assumed he was Collins.
"And lastly, Aparicio."
"Sir." she replied.
"You stay behind with Evans and guard the doctor and her assistant in the ship." he said.
"Which one's Evans...sir?" she asked awkwardly.
"The woman right next to you." he pointed out. Yeira looked to her right and gave the woman an awkward smile. Evans didn't even look in her direction.
"You're going to have to be more specific about who we're protecting, sir, they're all doctors apparently." said Evans.
"The medical one." he specified. "Oh, Evans. Take one of the drones and man it from the ship, I want eyes on the sky."
"Yes, sir." she replied.
"We clear then?" he asked.
"Yes, sir!" they all answered in unison.
"All right, now move your asses people! Get in gear 'cause we're dropping in less than an hour."
---
Agile Blade glared with an intense hate. At her feet was the r'ka she had been planning on hunting down. It's head was ripped clean from its body and its blood was still melting through the surroundings.
In the end she was too slow. Now she'd have to hunt something else. However, curiosity wouldn't let her leave without first inspecting how the kill was made.
As a precaution she lay a few traps around the area. She didn't want any surprises while she investigated. Just to be sure, she also activated her camouflage. With as much care as she could she turned its body face up and inspected it.
No wounds on its body, so whoever killed it did it without it never knowing he was there. She commended the Yautja that did this. Sneaking up on a r'ka wouldn't have been easy. There were no tracks near it so the killer probably struck from the trees.
The neck had a clean cut, so the hunter that did this probably used a bladed weapon -- this bothered her. Young Bloods don't have access to weapons that could cut straight through r'ka in one swipe -- Young Blood weapons melt not even halfway through. Maybe if the hunter had two knives, but she didn't see any on the other Young Bloods. Even if he had, he had to get up close to use those weapons. No tracks, so close quarters weapons were out of the picture.
The other option was a shuriken, which only she had. And the last option was a smart disc. It was a sharp circular device with a hand grip. Unlike other weapons though, it automatically came back to its user. It could even track targets as if it had a mind of its own.
As she stood there, it finally hit her; the head. The trophy had not been claimed. The Yautja could've marked himself with the blood, but that was highly unlikely. To mark himself he'd have to remove one of its fingers or even the tip of its tail and use the blood, but the body was intact. Whoever, or whatever killed it, didn't do it for the trophy. This was either a kill for survival or a kill for the sheer thrill, it was the latter that scared her. If this kill was made for the heck of it, that means there was a Bad Blood here, and she just missed him. She felt shivers down her spine and immediately left the scene in a panic. Not wanting to stay any longer she rushed through the woods as fast as she could, almost forgetting to check her surroundings for any threats.
In the distance she heard a commotion, gunfire by the sound of it. The human landing party finally encountered something. The sound came from the east of her position.
Just as she was about to leave she heard the blood curling screams of the humans. The Yautja killing them clearly didn't care for subtlety, it was probably the berserker she had seen on the ship. It was at times like these where she wanted a Falcon; a drone made by the Yautja sub-species. Right now it'd be useful so she could see exactly what was going on.
---
Time: 6:53, Earth Time
Date: June 17, 2104
"Lemme help you with that, doc." said Yeira. She helped the young man lift a case that he had been struggling with since they landed. It was about the same size as her but nearly twice as wide.
"All right. On three." she ordered "One. Two. Three."
The man lifted one end of the case and she lifted the other. She had no clue what was inside, but it was heavy. They struggled as they moved it and almost tumbled down the open ramp of their dropship. If she hadn't offered a hand the doctor would've easily spent the entire day moving the damn thing, probably would've gotten crushed by it in the process.
"Thank you." he said. They set it down a few meters from the ship and they backed away from it. "And it's Mason. James Mason." he said as he extended his hand. Yeira wiped the little sweat she had on her hand and shook his.
"And I'm not a doctor I'm just a medical assistant." he said with an awkward laugh.
"Pleasure. I'm Yeira." she replied. "So what's this thing?" she tapped the case with her boot.
"That, I do not know. The other lady told me to bring it out. Evans I think? Pretty sure that's what the tag on her armor said."
"Careful, don't let her know you weren't looking her in the eye." she said jokingly.
"No I-I was..." he struggled to finish until he saw the smirk on her face. "Oh, it's a joke. I see. Um... funny." he had an embarassed look on his face and was avoiding her gaze.
"Anyway. If it's not yours, it's probably the Wasp."
"Wasp?"
"It's a drone. To us, only for exploration. To the military, a fuckin' air force." she said with pride.
"I see. So--"
"Mason!" he was cut off by a woman leaning from the ramp. She wore a dark, tight jacket with a white shirt underneath. Her pants were just as white as the shirt, but her shoes were the odd ones out -- bright red sneakers. It took a bit until she realized it had been the same woman that was talking to Marcus when she woke up.
"I needed a supply check yesterday, stop flirting and get to it." she ordered.
"Well, duty calls." he told her and began to walk away.
"No problem, going the same way anyway." she joined him on his way to the ship.
"Why?"
"I've been ordered to be your bodyguard for the day."
"Well. I am glad to be in your care."
"Don't make it weird."
"Sorry."
"Ahhh fucking hell!" she heard someone complain. Instead of turning she kept on walking towards the ship.
"Mason, finally." the doctor said before they even entered the ship. "And... you. Hi." she said when she saw Yeira.
"Still traumatized?" she asked jokingly.
"It was just surprising, I wasn't prepared to see that right after cryo."
Mason stared at them both in confusion, but chose not to question it instead.
"Ma'am, I left the case outside." he told Evans. She was still sitting on one of the seats looking over something on her data pad.
"'As of 2101, the United States Marine Corps has now been officially renamed. These men and women are now proud members of the United States Colonial Marine Corps'." she said, completely ignoring Mason. "Bullshit if you ask me. Just sounds like the Marine Corps only with extra steps."
"What are you reading?" asked Yeira. In reality she couldn't care less what she was reading, but she could at least try to socialize with the people she was working with.
"Catching up on the last 10 years of news." she waved the data pad in the air and went back to reading.
"Um... the case, I--"
"I heard you the first time." she cut off Mason. She turned off her pad and left the ship without even glancing at the trio that was standing right in front of her.
"Someone can't handle the excitement." Yeira said sarcastically.
"I'll bet." said the doctor.
"I'm Yeira. Didn't have a chance to introduce myself earlier."
"Evelyn." she replied. "And you made one hell of an introduction."
"I don't regret a thing."
"Oof! God damn. Fuckin 'coats man. I thought all we did was carry the guns not their equipment." complained Marcus from the ramp. "My arms actually hurt. Do you have any clue when was the last time my arms hurt?"
"After you got tired of carrying every relationship you've ever been in?" Yeira mocked.
"Ha. Real funny, asshole." he flipped her off as he walked in. "And if you're interested, it was 12 years ago, I had to carry a crate full of guns up a hill. By myself."
"Didn't ask." she replied. Evelyn and Mason chuckled in the background.
"Where's Evans?" he asked.
"Outside. Prepping the drone." replied Yeira.
"Must've missed her."
"Planning to get her in the sack?" she asked.
"How dare you assume that of me? I am a man of morals. But yes, definitely." he said and smiled.
"Man this fucking planet is way too hot." he complained.
"Three suns remember?"
"Why couldn't we find a planet where it's eternally spring?"
"Marcus, you complain more than women do during their period." she let herself chuckle.
"Hey that's not funny."
"Sure it isn't."
"It isn't." he repeated. "You want to take this outside?" Yeira turned and taunted him as they both walked out of the ship.
---
"So far so good." said Marcus. He was aiming down the sights on his M39, slowly making his way through the jungle.
"Don't jinx it." said one of the twins. Which one? Who knew. And he didn't want to bother asking.
Corben was a few meters to his left with a motion tracker. His weapon, the M41E, was still on its mount on his back. Carrying a gun that big while also using a motion tracker? Not the greatest idea. Which is why he had his M4 locked and loaded. Josiah also had an M41E, but instead of an M4 pistol he was carrying a VP70 machine pistol.
"Evans, confirm visual on Marcus and the twins." the bossman said over team comms.
"Aye, sir." replied Evans.
"Wanna take off this goddamn armor." said Marcus. "How 'bout you guys?" he asked the twins.
"Like you wouldn't believe. I think I sweat more in the past five minutes than I have in my entire life." Corben replied.
"Got eyes on them, sir." said Evans.
Marcus looked up above him and spotted the drone she was using; the Wasp. Unmanned drone perfect for recon, but it could also be outfitted with weaponry equal to a fighter jet's. To this day he was still confused as to why they called it a Wasp, it didn't look like one. Didn't even sound like one either. If anything it looked like an eagle, only with a rounded beak and completely white.
"Make sure to get my good angle." he joked.
"Last I checked, you didn't have any." he heard Yeira say over comms.
"She wants me." he told the twins, out of comms. The twins simply chuckled at his comment.
"We're about... three-fourths of a mile behind them. Confirm?" the boss said.
"Copy. I have visual." Evans confirmed.
"All right. Stop where you are. 'Coats found some shit here that they want to examine." he ordered. "Some plant or something."
"Ah fuck's sake." Josiah and Marcus complained at the same time.
"Worst fuckin job we've taken so far." said Corben.
"We, as humans, must expand into outer worlds. Colonize, perhaps even find a new species, teach them our ways if possible. Maybe even learn from them." Evans said with a sarcastic, preachy tone.
"Lie of the fucking century that is." he heard Collins say.
"Son of a bitch." Evans said with a dissatisfied voice.
"What's wrong this time?" asked Aizawa.
"We got a defective drone. Gonna have to fix it later." she explained.
"Why?" asked Marcus.
"Image is distorted. Just a few frames though, part of one of the trees to be exact."
"Holy hell. Did you see that?" asked Yeira.
"See what?" asked Marcus. "See what?" he asked again.
"Something just flashed on screen. It was real quick, but I definitely saw a yellow flash."
Marcus signaled both of the twins to be at the ready. Corben kept a close eye at his motion sensor.
"I got nothing." he said. "Either they're standing so perfectly still, or there's nothing."
"What the fuck?" This time it was Evans that sounded surprised.
"What's going on over there?" asked the boss.
"The image distortion, it moved." she replied.
"Nothing on sensors yet." said Corben.
"You gotta be fucking kidding man." said Marcus, trying his damndest to try to hide his worries. "Josiah--"
He turned to his right to talk to him, but there was no one.
"Evans. Where's Josiah?" Corben asked.
"Give me a sec." Evans went silent for a good 20 seconds before she finally spoke again. "Nothing. I scanned everything in a ten meter radius. He ain't there."
"Josiah!" his brother called out.
"Marcus. Corben. Get back here, we're falling back to the dropship." ordered their boss.
"Yes, sir." they both replied.
"Corben, I got your six." said Marcus.
He kept aim right behind Corben as he made his way to him. The two of them kept a steady pace, each one covering all sides to make sure no one could get the jump on them.
"Evans, anything?" asked Collins.
"So far so good. No sign of Josiah yet though."
"We--" Marcus found himself cutoff by the sudden gunshots behind him. He turned in a panic and tried to find whatever it was that Corben was shooting at.
"What is it?" he asked over the gunfire.
"Hey!" he pulled Corben by the arm and got him out of his shooting spree. "The hell did you see?!"
"Josiah." he replied. "Something was dragging his body. I shot at it, but..."
"But?"
"Dragging his body?" he asked with a hint of fear.
"Double time it, Marcus." their boss ordered.
"Come on man." he told Corben. "Corben!"
He was in some kind of trance. Marcus followed his gaze and found what had him in that state.
Josiah's body was hanging under a nearby tree, blood trickling down his face, and a massive wound around his chest. Above the body was some kind of unnatural distortion. Marcus started intently, and then he saw its eyes flash.
---
Evelyn walked down the small corridor and entered the small room to her right. There was an operating table in the center, it was a perfectly reflective silver with a white cloth covering part of it.
"What have we got, Mason?" she asked the young man who was still doing inventory on the far side of the room.
"Well. We have just about everything for gunshots, stabs, broken bones, headaches, stomachaches, etc. The only thing we don't have is anything in case someone loses a limb or has a serious injury." he replied.
"I think gunshots and stab wounds count as serious injuries."
"What I mean is if it's a life or death situation, we can only ease their pain until we get back to the colony ship." he said.
"Where all the good materials are." she finished the thought.
"Exactly."
"Well, foreign planet, foreign surroundings. Who knows, James, we might get to name an ailment today. All we gotta do is hope we can treat it."
"Do you have to say that so enthusiastically?" he had a slightly worried look on his face. "I heard gunshots earlier. At least I think they were gunshots."
"Pretty sure they were. Kovacs must be pissed right now."
"Why is that?"
"Told the mercs strictly not to shoot anything." she explained. "Not even two hours and already shooting the locals."
"What'd you expect? They're all former jarheads."
"Can't say--"
There was a sudden commotion outside. Several muffled voices in the corridor getting closer and closer. Their footsteps were fast and heavy, their voices alarmed and in terror.
"Fuckin' move!" yelled one of them.
Four people came into the room, the mercs. Two of them carrying a body and the other two focused their guns on the entrance.
"Put him on the table!" ordered Evelyn. "What happened?" she asked.
"Don't know. There was... there was a..." It was Marcus, the man that had woken up next to her after cryo. When she met him, he was cocky and full of life. Right now though, he looked traumatized, probably wouldn't even be able to explain anything at all to her.
"Shit. Shit!" said one of them as they lay the man's body on the table. The man on the table was an older fellow in his late 60s, 70s maybe. The right side of his face had scarred, the form was that of a net of some sort.
"Help me take off his chest armor." she told Marcus. He unstrapped it from the locks on the shoulders and waist then removed it carefully.
"The hell?" she was confused at what was in front of her.
"What's wrong?" asked the other merc, a blonde man about the same size as Marcus. The tag on his armor read "C. Siu".
"The wound. It's cauterized." she replied. "Did you see what did this?" she asked.
"The jungle." said Marcus, still staring at the body. "The jungle got him."
Evelyn was confused. She brushed off his comment and went back to treating the injured man. Evelyn glanced at the armor that Marcus was still holding.
"A. Schaefer." she read aloud. "What's the 'A' stand for?" she tried to distract him from his pain.
"Alan." the man replied with restraint. "But everyone calls me Dutch."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
StratusPhear
StratusPhear Damn, taking a long ass time to release these. So that Snyder Cut announcement, am I right? ;)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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