Episode-11: Lost in the Storm

Date: November 25, 3008
Time: 01:30
Location: Navasota Island

~Michael~

An incessant and irritating beeping engulfed the entrance hall, emanating from Ganzykus’s fallen body. It reverberated off of the bullet-ridden black walls eerily, like the call of some fell beast. But Michael noticed the noises coming in on an increasingly excited level. It sped up.

“Get out of here,” Mikhail suddenly declared, his face grave and daunted. He turned towards the rest of the group, “Get out, NOW!”

Without another urge, Michael followed the rest out of the teleporting threshold into the open fields of Navasota Island. He was met with a cold blast of the night sea air as Michael emerged into the night. The storm raged down, soaking him instantly to the bone. His clothes sagged heavily, and clawed at him as he stumbled away from the teleporter. Then, it collapsed with a tremendous, ground-shaking boom.

Ganzykus’s body had exploded as his suits vital sensors detected his death. Apparently, it was fitted with a self-destruct mechanism so he did not get into the wrong hands. Michael could only hope none of the Shadow Templars had exploding suits as well.

The downpour raged into the night, crying its heart out onto the island. Lightning seared across the sky in angry bolts as claps of thunder accompanied the horrific dance. Though the refreshing smell of rejuvenating life tingled Michael’s nose, he felt suffocated by the pounding rain as if someone were drowning him. The trees around him swayed in fury, threatening to be toppled over in the insane wind. Michael’s skin tingled from within his temperature controlled suit; not even his futuristic combat uniform could shield him against nature’s raw force.

The company of seven grouped up around Mikhail, who had to scream to be heard over the roaring wind, “Let’s get to the docks! Who knows who else might be out here!”

Michael soon found himself trudging through ankle-deep mud as they made their way north east towards Mikhail’s hidden underground cove. Progress was slow, and the freezing rain only made it worse. Michael could not even feel his fingers now. He thought of Mikhail’s warning, that the intruders might still be out here. Only insane people would linger in this crappy weather.

Then, life threw Michael an ironic twist as he felt something graze his left arm. Instantly ducking down into the tall grass, he heard a burst of gunfire lay a stream of bullets directly where he was a second ago. Cursing under his breath, he screamed into the communicator, “Where the f*** is that coming from!?”

“Sh**! Ambush!” Felix yelled out as gunfire drowned out his voice in Michael’s communicator. Locking and loading, Michael crawled through the tall grass towards Maldran and Felix, who were laying on their stomachs with their weapons trained out.

“Where are they?” Maldran yelled over the deafening wind and gunfire. He let out a stream of bullets in a random direction, hoping to catch at least one attacker. In the night, everything was black. Not even his gun-mounted flashlight could penetrate the infinite darkness.

Lie still and shut up… a woman’s voice echoed in Michael’s ears. It did not sound like Nova’s voice, and it took him a while to realize who had said it, or rather, thought it.

Running footsteps crept up from behind Michael’s position, and when he realized who it was, she was already far ahead of him. Training his flashlight upon the white cloak, he caught a glimpse of Lily unsheathing both of her katanas before she dashed out of range. In the rain, he could faintly hear the screams of dying men as Lily surely cut them down. Metallic slashes and clashes of steal pinged through the downpour into Michael’s eardrums. Then, relative silence ensued once more.

“Clear!” Lily shouted into her communicator, signaling for Michael to get back up. Mud covered his entire front as he made his way towards Lily’s position. Both of her katanas were stained blood red, and the downpour did not seem to be able to wash off the sticky liquid. Though Lily was wet all over, her white uniform remained pure as ever, somehow staying clean the whole time as she fought. Michael couldn’t help but stair at her as her clothes clung to her skin. And the fact that her entire overall was white did not seem to help the fact either…

“Come on,” Mikhail shouted in the choking rain, “Let’s go before more come!”

They were in the trees now, and the thick canopy did finally provide some cover from the rain. However, the air was drafty in the forest, making Michael wish he was back in his warm bed even more.

“Reminds me of a year ago…” Maldran’s voice suddenly crackled over the communicator. Michael chuckled grimly to himself. He would have much rathered to be fighting in a dry atmosphere like a year go than now in drenching rain. Looking around, his flashlight gave little glimpses of familiar landmarks. Though vegetation had sprouted over the course of the year, he could still see the residuals of craters made by exploding tank shells of the Nexon Dominion. As Michael’s feet sloshed in the mud, he thought he could see the remains of a golden shell lying half buried in the undergrowth.

The open sea lay before them as they emerged from within the tree line. The salty ocean tingled Michael’s nostrils, much like how they did three hundred and sixty or so days back. As the rain continued to drown the island, Michael thought he could see something move in the deep, dark waters of the ocean. Something massive seemed to play with his eyes, but when he blinked, it was gone, replaced by an infinite darkness that knew no bounds.

“You coming or not?” Lily called from out in the distance. Michael suddenly realized that the group had moved off down the beech, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He shook stray beads of rain out of his eyes and jogged to catch up.

When he finally caught up, the rest of the group was standing around a boulder atop of a cliff overlooking the sea. It jutted out in an awkward angle, but was very familiar in Michael’s eyes. Through the blackness, he could see Mikhail smile to himself before slamming his foot down onto the rock, bringing them down through the portal into the cavern.

Mikhail’s docks were pretty much the same as before. Submersibles of all different types hung on their cranes, waiting to be deployed into the large lagoon in the middle of the cave. The only thing that was missing was the craft he had traveled on a year ago to reach Orbis. Michael was sure it was now at the bottom of the sea, with whatever was left of the still radioactive city of Orbis.

But as the group made their way down to the waterfront, Michael suddenly noticed something else in the lagoon.

It was massive, sitting in the crystal clear waters like a dragon in a bathtub. The craft’s silver exterior shined lustrously in the florescent lights of the cave. As Michael approached, he could see the cockpit’s tinted windows reflected his own dirty image. On the side, was the EDEN insignia. Mikhail walked up and patted the sleek hull, “Like it?” he smiled gleefully, as if the ship were his most prized possession, “I salvaged this from a while back. It’s a D77-TC Pelican Dropship. I customized it like no tomorrow, so it’s way more advanced than the original when I found it. I think the original name was the ‘Silver Talon’.”

Mikhail opened the hatch atop the craft and Michael jumped down into the spacious cabin. Though the craft looked enormous on the outside, the interior did not live up to its image. The few portholes on the sides of the dropship revealed little glimpses of the cavern outside. As he took his seat on the right of the ship, Mikhail buttoned down the hatch and climbed into the cockpit. Leaving the door open into the main cabin, he turned on the thrusters and Michael soon found himself looking at the familiar crystals on the lagoon floor before it dropped away into the open ocean.

“Hold on,” Mikhail’s voice grunted from the helm, “I hope this works!”

Michael didn’t know what he meant, but he sure felt it. The craft rose up to the surface of the water, but it did not stop. The thrusters outside roared to max capacity and they started to hover above the ocean’s lapping waves. The rain rebounded off of the windows, sliding down the ship’s hull before rejoining the water of the sea. They were flying.

Soon enough, Mikhail had the craft cruising at 10,000 feet , just below the low clouds. The rain still pounded down upon the old craft, making it groan in agony as it flew.

“Mikhail, you think this is safe?” Lily asked uncertainly as she stared out the porthole on her side.

“Nonsense,” Mikhail’s voice boomed, seemingly shaking the entire ship. Michael grabbed his seat firmly, trying not to cave to his fears. Mikhail continued, “She’s as solid as a rock!”

Wanting to find something else to talk about, Michael looked at his watch, and then realized he had no idea where they were going. “Hey Mikhail, where are we going?”

Mikhail hollered back as he banked the ship left, “There’s an uncharted island that was on Ganzykus’s suit’s CPU. We’re headed there now. I have a strong hunch Damiver is there.” Michael caught a glimpse of Nova’s eyes before she retreated into the shadows of the ship. A chill ran down his spine.

“Wait, uncharted?” Maldran asked questioningly, “Does that mean you don’t know where it is?”

“Correct!” Mikhail replied heartily, as if nothing was wrong. Michael rolled his eyes, but he knew he had no choice but to trust Mikhail. He had never led them wrong. Turning his head to the portholes, he gazed down into the black waters.

Suddenly, the ship’s intercom crackled with static. Then, voices emanated from the channel.

“Private Imp… covering… get those guys o…”

“What the hell is… oh feth! Nezzy!”

There was a feral roar, staticky but audible, and then more frightened voices followed by gunfire.

“Lt. Gemina I need… Someone I’m… Medic!”

More static followed by another beast-like roar…

“Fey what the feth… where’s… oh God!”

More gunfire erupted over the intercom.

“Command, this is… requesting rein-… now!”

“Get back in there! There’s… come on!”

Then, Mikhail’s voice boomed over the intercom once more, “Sorry, we seem to be getting interference by someone else’s radio. Wonder what they would be doing all the way out here…” The voices ceased as Mikhail switched the channel.

Outside in the raging storm, Michael thought he could see a light flickering down there on the surface of the ocean. It could have been an oil rig, or a platform of some kind, but the dropship cruised on, leaving the voices to converse with themselves, lost in the ocean’s heart full of secrets. The storm of the century raged on.