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After Vox left the room, they all began to grumble. Back to work at seven meant wakeup at five. Every last one of them despised that number, as it also tended to be the maximum number of hours of sleep they would receive that night.
"So," began Sharpe, breaking the ice. "Back to cards, or what?" He glanced at each of their faces, and "no" was clearly visible on them all. Dejected, he walked over to the small circular window and looked out.
From space, the unaided eye can see countless thousands of stars, a dazzling display without equal. Even from his limited view, Sharpe was thoroughly amazed. Off in the distance there was a pale blue dot, which was obviously larger than any of the other points of light. They were passing by a planet. Where this planet's star was, Sharpe could not tell.
A dropship, much like the Sandstorm, approached from afar on its way to the docking bay. "Looks like Squad Six is back. I wonder if they were as lucky as we were."
"Oh, I hope not," said Johnny, drawing the attention of the whole squad. "What? Squad Six sucks," he said defensively. "I mean, we're much better than they are, right?, but they get a full invasion force mission while we get sent off to flush out a rat in some senile old woman's cupboard. I hardly think that's a fair deal by any account."
Sirens suddenly began to sound.
***
"Where are they? I can't find 'em anywhere," came a voice over the radio.
"Whoa, check this out. I think I've found something," said another voice.
"Looks like a hive to me," said a third. "But it looks like its been dead for weeks."
Some choking came over the radio, followed by a pained, "smells like it, too."
"Alright, guys," began the commander. "I can't make heads or tails of this situation here. Just report back to the dropship and we'll figure something out from there."
The commander gave a few moments of thought to the current situation as he made his way to the ship. When his squad arrived he said, "Our only move now is to head back. If there's nothing here for us to kill, then there's no reason for us to be here. Get in."
His men filed in as he engaged the autopilot and took his seat. The ship lifted off and was on its way. Soon the cabin was awash with screams and poorly aimed gunfire as the squad was ambushed by a hiding alien force. Outnumbered and outmatched, the squad was soon overpowered and killed. The ship, meanwhile, continued on its way, paying no attention to the battle within.
***
The dropship landed in the docking bay and opened up. Out of it streamed at least two dozen aliens of various types. The last one to find its way out was a fat momma, and as it left the threshold of the dropship, it let out a yell like no other.
The nearby crew found themselves unexpectedly under siege. Needless to say, they were unarmed and had never been trained for these situations. A few of them dove behind whatever they could find for cover, hoping to stay successfully hidden. They were all fatally surprised by how quickly and stealthily the crawlers found their backsides.
A few of them grabbed whatever they could find, in a vain attempt at bravery. Broomsticks, scraps of metal, and rubber tubing were no match for the sharpened attack claws that soon severed their weapons and sheared their chests.
One man alone had the sense to run to the control panel. Behind him he heard his death flying ever closer, but so intent on his goal was he that he did not heed its call. As his outstretched hand depressed a button, sending alarms blaring throughout the cruiser, he felt the blunt force of being knocked by a fast moving glider. Now pinned to the ground, he quivered in anticipation of the blow, which came soon enough and sent waves of searing pain coursing through his body until the world faded out and he knew no more.
***
Johnny looked up. "Was it something I said?" he asked in response to the alarms.
Vox came in shortly afterwards. "Get your gear and let's go!" he shouted. "They're here." There was no need to explain any further. Everyone knew who "they" were, and each of them assembled their material with all due haste.
In the rush, none of them paid any attention to a small clinking noise in the vent near the ceiling. As the squad was almost ready to go, a crawler burst out and latched onto the back of the nearest soldier. It's claws dug in deep, and it was able to quickly remove and reinsert its top two a number of times before the rest of the squad could react.
Bullets tore through the hide of the crawler, shredding it almost as terribly as the back it now fell from. Each member of the squad watched in horror as Sharpe fell forward onto his face. Lying prone, his back was clearly visible, and it appeared to have been repeatedly thrashed by a high-speed band saw. More than one of them turned away, unwilling to look.
Vox bent down and picked up Sharpe's gun. "Let's get these scumbags," he growled through his teeth. He motioned to Rodriguez as the rest of the squad filed out. Rodriguez pulled a pin and lobbed a grenade as far into the vent as he could. He was out the door when he heard the explosion. Glancing back, he saw the ball of fire shoot out and hoped to anything that those vents weren't empty.
The squad made its way through the ship and slowed as it neared what it determined to be the combat zone. "Don't let vengeance cloud your judgment, men," warned Vox. "If you die, too, you'll accomplish nothing." They got to a corner and Vox held up his hand. They all paused and waited. Around the corner and down at the end of the hallway was the docking bay. No one knew what to expect. Vox motioned, and Johnny and Cool Hand darted across the hallway to an alcove on the other side. As they passed, they could see other soldiers at the end of the hall.
"It's clear," said Cool Hand. Vox turned, and his men followed as he ran down the hall. They got to the other soldiers just as they were preparing to open the docking bay door. When the alarm was sounded, the doors shut to seal off the area. There was an obvious blood trail where a torso was dragged to the side and out of the way, so great was the force of the doors.
The door controls were now being manually overridden, and they began to lumber open. A few crawlers darted out, but were taken down by heavy gunfire before they could get far. By now, Stinger was getting fairly antsy. Sharpe had been his best friend among the squad, and he wanted to kill as many of them as soon as possible. Sweat was beading on his brow, he was breathing rapidly, and he could feel his heartbeat in his head as his warm blood coursed through his veins.
Suddenly Stinger's better judgment was overcome by his thirst for blood, and he charged forward through the other soldiers to the gap in the doors. Just as he entered, he was struck in the chest. Sharp fangs pierced through his uniform into his lungs. The force knocked him on his back, sending him skidding on the floor towards the other soldiers. They all hesitated, unsure of what happened or what to do next.
The alien, suddenly surrounded by a host of soldiers and no hope of escape, capitalized on their hesitation and exploded. Stinger was killed by the force of the explosion alone, as shards of the carapace deeply embedded themselves into his exposed body, much like a spray of shotgun pellets.
Nearby soldiers were completely unprepared. Some gasped in shock, others in horror, but ultimately fell dead after inhaling the toxic spores left in the aftermath of the explosion. Other aliens inside the docking bay heard this and stormed out. Bullets screamed across the enclosure. Screams tore through the ears of everyone there.
A crawler slipped through off to the right. Cool Hand and Rodriguez gave chase, piercing it with a number of bullets before it could round the corner and head off out of sight. Behind them came the yell of a thousand banshees, followed by a steady pounding getting louder. They turned in time to witness the tail end of a fat momma charging right towards them.
Bullets streamed towards the behemoth, but did little to slow or deter its assault. It crashed into the two and sent them flying towards an escape pod at the end of the hall. Rodriguez hit the floor and slid partway in, while the lighter Cool Hand flew in and hit his head against the release button, and then dropped down and out.
The hatch closed with the speed of a flash, and the pod detatched and rocketed away to wherever gravity would take it. The fat momma turned around, beginning to be worn down by the constant stream of bullets. It stumbled forwards and collapsed at the feet of one of the men who continued to ventilate the now dead alien.
Johnny and Vox, following the rest of the men, quickly rushed into the docking bay. There they found many dead men, but mostly just parts of men. They quickly fanned out, taking down what they could find. Johnny turned behind a crate only to find a cocoon. It began to hatch, letting Johnny know it with a terrible yell. His finger twitched, and screams of intimidation soon became screams of pain as bullets tore through its body.
A glider that had been perched up high now felt it was time to attack. It left its roost and dove down, aiming straight towards a man paused and surveying the battle scene, a man named Vox. It neared its target, and Vox got the unmistakable feeling of a pair of eyes watching him from behind. He turned and watched as an unsuspecting marine crossed into the path of the attacker and absorbed the full force of its claws.
Man and beast flew forwards, knocking over Vox and landing atop him. The marine screamed in pain as the claws tore open his chest while Vox's bullets tore through the glider, its blood dripping into the marine's open wounds. Soon both were dead, and Vox was able to get out from under them with a little help from a pair of nearby marines.
The battle slowly wound its way to a close as the last cocoon to be found was destroyed, its contents spilling out over the floor like egg yolk. In all, there only about a dozen soldiers left of the nearly forty that had been stationed there.
They were all weary and desirous of rest, yet Vox urged caution. "There could still be crawlers in the vents. Until we can be entirely certain, don't go anywhere alone, always watch your six, and always be loaded with your weapon at the ready."
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