Chapter 4: Unforeseen Circumstances

Date: November 11, 3007
Time: 04:30
Location: SS Isis off the coast of El Nath

Five minutes and counting. Aaru struggled through her trunk, trying desperately to find her pair of combat gloves. Beside her, Annikabelle was rapping the doorframe with her knuckles exasperatedly. She sighed loudly as she looked at her watch. Four minutes.

With a relived “Ah Ha,” Aaru pulled out her black combat gloves which were cut at the fingers. Already in her combat suit, she thrust her hands into the gloves and grabbed her K-98 Kage Flamethrower from the foot of the bunk bed. Aaru heaved the enormous tanks onto her backs and tied them on her body using the straps as if it was a backpack. She switched on her wrist watch and fueled up the tanks of explosive plasma now strapped to her back. Aaru took the two lines and strapped each of them down on one wrist. She felt the plasma flow through the lines connecting the wrist nozzles to the tanks. Looking up, Annikabelle was already out the door. One minute.

Emerging back on deck, Aaru gasped in surprise. Instead of the original six members of Felix’s squad assigned to the task, the group had suddenly doubled in the duration of the past ten minutes. Eleven people stood in front of her, six of whom she was completely unfamiliar with.

“As you can see,” Captain Felix Shadeswalker started, “There are some new members who have just been assigned to this mission.” He motioned at the six strangers. Here, we have Privates Niel Starks and Mark Lem. They will be the support gunners for this mission. Aaru eyed their O-24 Omega Heavy Machine Guns warily. They seemed almost bigger than their operators.

“The woman here,” Felix walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. She immediately shrugged his grip off and looked away, “Anyways, this is Sergeant Caleio Somus. She looked up at the group with her midnight blue eyes and brushed her silver shoulder length hair back into a ponytail. Without another word, she looked back down at the deck, swinging her S-16 from one hand to another lackadaisically.

“Over here to the left, is Corporal Mexiufax Torrent.” Mexiufax lifted up his S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle in acknowledgement. “And lastly, we have here Privates John Ryden, and Billy Thorne.” Felix finished off the introductions as each of the remaining two privates raised their hands at the mention of their names.

“Together,” Felix continued, “General Fenris wants us to find out what the hell that was an hour ago. Our only lead is that it occurred behind that mountain range over there.” Felix waved his hand behind him. Aaru could see the blurry jagged peaks in the distance.

There was a sudden gust of snow as a mechanical whirring flew above the platoon. Twelve heads looked up simultaneously to see the engines of the dropship Oceanic hovering above them. The communicator suddenly crackled. “Oceanic reporting as ordered, captain.”.

Felix yelled back, “Acknowledged, Oceanic, land on the ice on the ship’s starboard side. We will meet you soon.” With that, the roaring engines soared to the ship’s right side and landed with a flurry of snow and smoke. Felix looked back at his platoon, “Let’s go.”

Twelve figures deftly hopped down onto the frozen ice of the Sea of El Nath. The engines of the Oceanic had died down, setting the snow back down again. Aaru heard a mechanical whir as the dropship’s ramp slowly came down, revealing a plain metal interior. The twelve strapped themselves in on seats located in the left and right walls of the ship. Aaru found herself facing her captain. Felix’s worn, gaunt face was unshaven and battle scarred, but past the unseemliness of his facial features, Aaru could see he used to be a handsome man. His eyes were black with cold as he stared back at her. She looked away. His stare could freeze anybody to the ground in seconds.

The floor suddenly moved as the Oceanic lifted off into the turbulent air. As the ship soared through the night sky, Aaru felt herself shaking and rattling until her teeth felt like they would fall off. The storm outside was worsening. Sheets of snow and strong gusts of wind now battered down on the dropship as it flew over the first mountains.

“Ladies and gentlemen, prepare for contact. Target is ten minutes out from landing zone. Landing could get a little bit hairy,” The pilot’s voice shook from over the intercom. Aaru could feel the engines throttle down as they began descending into the mountains.

Suddenly, the dropship tilted to the left. It jerked as the engines sputtered and died. Aaru could feel the icy cold wind blow into the failed hydraulics systems, freezing it instantly. They were falling now, falling into the unknown reaches of El Nath.

The landing was, as the pilot so conveniently put it, hairy. The dropship smashed into the snow and slid down the steep slope into a basin surrounded on all four sides by tall black mountains. As the Oceanic slid to a stop, the pilot reported shakily, “We have sustained substantial damage, but I think I can get this piece of junk to work in a few hours. In the mean time,” The ramp suddenly whirred to life as it descended into the snow. Felix was already unbuckled from his straps and stepped off of the ramp before it had even touched the ground.

The freshly fallen snow was soft to the touch as Aaru carefully made her way off of the dropship. Looking behind, she could see the landing pads had driven themselves deep into the snow. As the ramp behind her withdrew back into the ship with a mechanical whir, she could hear the dropship pilot pull the throttle up, trying desperately to dislodge the Oceanic from its snowy entrapment.

It was still dark when the platoon led by Captain Felix Shadeswalker set out on foot. The platoon had the lights on their suits switched on, pointing ahead, but even the bright lights could not penetrate far into the El Nath night. A couple of people behind her captain in the line, Aaru looked at her own wrist map. They were traveling due east towards a red dot pulsating on the green screen. The snow around them lashed out angrily, as if they were disturbing Mother Nature with their hi-tech gear and armaments. Aaru charged her three plasma tanks on her back, feeling a bit of warmth on her back as the fuel inside heated up. She picked away at ice that had formed on her wrist nozzles, knowing that if her lines froze up, she would be dead before she knew it.

The captain suddenly lifted up his fist, signaling a halt. Eleven people behind him instantly froze in their tracks. Aaru looked up ahead with her eyes. Felix’s flashlight mounted below the barrel of his S-16 was fixed on something in the distance. Looking past his broad shoulders, Aaru saw a black object resting in the snow. Felix signaled an all clear and pushed forwards faster towards object. Aaru opened up into a light jog along with the rest of the platoon. She glanced down on her wrist map. The red dot was directly in front of them.

There it was, the product of the phenomenon, sitting smoking and half buried on the white snow. Aaru stepped up behind the captain to get a better view. It was sphere-like in shape, made of apparently black marble. The ice around it was cracked, as if the ball had fallen from the sky. Looking up, Aaru could see the sky graying, signaling the beginning of a new day.

“Aaru,” the captain ordered out amidst the roaring wind and blizzard, “Take it and put it in your pack.” Aaru felt a sense of hesitation. She could feel something wrong already, a sleepless malice closing in around them. Something was wrong. A great evil was working its force here. But orders were orders, and Aaru bent down to pick it up with her gloved hands.

Her fingers touched the smooth object and instantly recoiled. Something had flashed through her mind as her skin made contact with the marble sphere. An image. She blinked a couple of times, backing up from the object.

“Aaru?” the captain asked uncertainly, “What happened?”

“I-I don’t know,” Aaru turned back with confused eyes to look at Felix. He had a most peculiar expression on his face, as if he was actually worried about her. But she knew the captain was as hard as stone, not having any emotions at all. Sighing to herself, she resisted all of the screams of her conscience and hastily grabbed the sphere.

But as soon as she lifted it up, she knew everything was wrong. The ball began to glow a reddish tint. As the platoon closed in around her, the radiance intensified. Whispers, whispers in the dawning sky. Aaru looked around cautiously. Voices seemed to be coming in all directions, carried eerily through the wind.

Then, as if to drive a point home, a hideous howl broke through the roaring wind, reaching the platoon’s ears, and sending chills down their spines. What the hell!? Aaru suddenly aimed her wrist nozzles into the wind towards the direction of the howl. She felt Annikabelle crouch beside her, aiming her O-24 Omega Heavy Machine Gun in the same directions. Behind her, the rest of the platoon locked and loaded, preparing for a somehow imminent invasion. She could feel it in the air.

More howls raged through the air. Aaru could hear snarls coming in all directions. Something, was out there, coming closer and closer. Aaru could feel hatred in the air, hatred to the ones who had disturbed the black sphere.

Then, there it was, coming threateningly closer. Its four paws left brief imprints in the snow before it was covered again. The dark grey wolf, which Aaru recognized as a Hector, stalked out of the white out. It snarled at the platoon, which had aimed all of its weapons upon it. Saliva dripped down from its foaming mouth, freezing as it hit the ground. The hector’s fur blew wantonly in the furious wind. Then, it paused and lifted up its head into the most breathtaking cry Aaru had ever heard.

She felt as if someone was scratching inch-long fingernails across the hull of a steel ship. She flinched back, covering her ears, trying to block out the infernal screech. Then it was silent once more. The wolf stood in its tracks, baring its teeth at the platoon.

A sudden shiver came through the communicator, “Captain,” a voice stuttered. It was Mexiufax Torrent, “captain there’s another one.” Aaru whipped around to see another wolf approach them menacingly. This one was pure white, blending in with the snow. She could only see its face protruding out from the blinding snow.

“Captain!” another voice stammered, “There’s a whole pack now!” Repty Ryanoni stepped backwards while aiming his red laser sight on the forehead of the lead wolf, as three more Hectors advanced on their circle. Their teeth were coated in frozen blood that had long turned brown.

Aaru could sense the nervousness befall the platoon as the group backed up until they could feel each others’ breaths. Suddenly, the ground reverberated with a thump, as if something enormous had just slammed into the ground. Aaru jolted her head to her left. Another min-earthquake shook the ground, this time a little closer. Something else was coming. Another thump.

A figure appeared through the blowing snow. It was dark at first, standing up on its hind legs. As it came clearer, Aaru gasped in realization. A furry white hind leg stepped out of the mist, revealing four angular claws three inches long. The other paw slammed down on the ground in front of it. With each step the thing took, the ground trembled all around it. The body towered above the platoon. A white mane covered the entire torso. Two arms extending from the sides ended in paws with four long claws, glinting from the light from the flashlights on the platoon’s weapons. The head was the most distorted of all. It had a long white snout with inch long fangs dripping in rabid saliva. Its eyes were red with blood lust as it continued stomping forwards. The Hectors and Pangs shifted aside to let the monster through. Its white pointed ears pricked up and its nose sniffed the air, catching the human scent.

Then without warning, it let out an earsplitting roar, which Aaru was sure, if they were on a slope, they would all be buried under an avalanche. The Hectors and Pangs joined into the cacophony, and before Aaru could readjust herself, the first one was already bounding forwards, eager to rip, tear, and kill.

Automatic weapons chattered to life, ripping body from soul as wolves leapt forwards and fell to the maniacal steel bullets. However, Aaru suddenly noticed that each Pang or Hector that was brought down was replaced by three more, eagerly willing to sacrifice themselves to tear at the platoon. There was yelling on the communicator, but Aaru’s brain could not register the messages. Her training had turned her body onto autopilot mode. She opened the nozzles and sprayed a stream of plasma flames into the towering Lycanthrope. She smiled as the large humanoid wolf fell. A demonic glint flashed through her eyes.

The Lycanthrope’s white fur was now charred black and flaming, but it charged forwards nonetheless. Aaru backed up, still spraying her flames into the wolves at full throttle. She took a quick glance on her wrist watch. Number 1 tank was running low. The wolf was almost on top of her now as it bounded forwards, shaking the snow as it went. It let out a ground shaking roar as it leapt into the air. Aaru closed her eyes, waiting for the two ton body to slam into her, crushing all life from her.

Instead of the impact however, Aaru heard the racket of a two machine guns above her. She opened her eyes and saw Annikabelle and Caleio, opening up their newly inserted magazines into the throat of the monster. It fell backwards, its long claws clasped around its throat. As it hit the ground, a ridiculous amount of snow flew up into the air, enshrouding the platoon in a white haze.

Aaru couldn’t see the two women standing above her anymore, but felt their arms pull her up. Then, she heard him. “FALL BACK! FALL BACK! AARU!” Felix cried out through the communicator, hoping desperately Aaru had not fallen yet.

“I’m here, sir,” Aaru responded into her communicator, “I have the black sphere! What the hell do we do now sir?” Aaru managed to dodge a leaping wolf just in time as it flew over her head, snapping at her sleek black hair. Immediately, she met the wolf in the mouth as she sprayed white hot plasma into the wolf’s insides, flash-burning it into charred ashes.

“FALL BACK TO THE SHIP!” Captain Felix’s voice resounded through the communicator. “RUN FOR IT AND DON’T LOOK BACK!” Aaru needed no extra warning. She broke into a blind sprint, following her wrist watch back west towards the homing beacon on the dropship. Aaru had always followed orders with ease in the past, but this one seemed next to impossible. As she ran, she saw brief figures around her before they were taken away in the white mist.

Suddenly, a pack of Hectors appeared right in front of her. Aaru’s scream never left her throat.