My story
Okay, so I really couldn’t think of anything to really talk about so I thought I would instead post a bit of a story I wrote. The story is titled ‘the Gun’ which is a science fiction short story featuring 3 acts. I’m going to post up one Act at a time, just so people can take some time with reading it and see what they think. This story was more of a test story I started to get some character and personality ideas for the cast. I based the main characters off an online gaming outfit I play with so the call signs are named after the players. However, the equipment and vehicles are more of my personal touch since I try to avoid writing ‘fan fics’ of ideas already made, not that it’s a bad idea but I prefer to be original.
FWI this is a mature rating for violence and language. Which personally I don’t give a fuck, but I’m doing this for all the whinny babies who are too scared of a word and are obviously to ignorant of it’s true meaning. But without further ado here is:
The Gun
Paul Rascher
Act 1
Residential Block B-3 quivered under the shower of artillery fire, the once lush and refined living block was transformed into a ruined field of debris. While the Alliance drop ships continued to deliver their cargo through the barrage of Reaper air fire, many of those unfortunate to have been ejected from their transports were scattered. One such unfortunate individual was Private Mace, a young and frightened marine, who desperately searched for his outfit amongst the ruins of the living block. His heart paused as shadows leaped out at his approach around every corner of the jagged housing remains. His tension was broken by the cold kiss of a droplet from the grey shroud overhead. As the rain roared down over the skeletal dwellings, Mace found a moment to hide in the rubble and catch his breath. Turning to his H.U.D. equipment, he prayed the fleets signals could cut through the storm. Flicking his thumb on the T.A.U.N.T. of his helmet, the Target and Unit Navigational Tracker displayed the three dimensional layout into his retina. As the blipping yellow icon depicted his location, Mace scrolled through the layout with his tapping fingers. Scrolling across the layout he found a homing signal, hopefully from his outfit.
“Oh God please let that be my team.” He prayed in his mind clicking the TAUNT back into his helmet and continued through the downpour.
**************************************************
The ‘Bloody Bull’, an Alliance warship, was one of many amongst the fleet approaching the Tau Seti cluster. As Mace explored the elegant interior of the Bloody Bull he could not help but be marveled over the ingenuity of how the Alliance cooperated in the construction of such a hybrid. It was astonishing to see how elegant the hallway was constructed, its design similar to a Roman chapel of ancient Earth. Complete with architectural sculptures and mosaics of past battles, both of Shara’khan and Terrain were painted into the walls in between columns of what appeared to be marble. Mace was particularly drawn towards the painting of a World War two conflict depicting the American invasion on Iwo Jima. Adjacent was a painting of a historic Shara’khan battle between two long forgotten war chiefs. Their spears and armor clad soldiers were striking to the ancient Spartans, by Terrain understanding. Though they are merging very well with colonists outside the Solar system very few are ever seen living on Terra. Due to fear that Shara’khans appear to descend from an ancient Earth Great White Shark. Even though they are considered a peaceful and advanced culture, many Terrains fear the mistake of making one angry.
As Mace marveled over the paintings a sharp tone rang through the Vox systems, “All marines please report to your briefing halls.” The voice was a female terrain officer, obviously, as she repeated the orders through the Vox.
Mace felt his stomach churn as he ran for the hall. He knew the fight would start very soon and he was not to anxious to be apart of it, especially when he realized which outfit he was stationed with.
Mace entered through the sliding hatchway into the lecture hall and could see the great chamber was almost filled to the brim like an opera house. The hall was designed like a giant bowl as the marines sat at the outer edge staring downward towards the center. The hall was alive with the whispers of marines who were, by his point of view, anxious to get into the war. As the group of Terrain and Shara’khan discussed with one another about the up coming event, Mace turned his attention towards the center of the hall. Hanging from the steel beams over the stage swayed the yellow banner of ‘Section 8 blue’. The symbol bared the sign of a bold Blue ‘S’ as a diamond of gold enhanced its brilliance, two cogs turned out from the ending points of the curves to form the ‘8’ within the ‘S’. This outfit was one of the first to enter a fight, known best for their insane tactics of charging the enemy with heavy armor, hot drops beyond the line and hard forward strikes by Shara’khan berserkers. Many outside the outfit considered the ‘Section 8’ marines true to their name, as most of the members have been known to act as kamikaze runners when pushed to the breaking point. Mace never fit the profile of being a suicidal hero and was hesitant to charge in with a strap of high explosives around his waste. His attention was captured by a larger Shara’khan soldier entering through a hatchway at the stage level. Rather than joining the rest of the marines and other Shara’khan on the stadium, this warrior walked towards the stage sitting next to a Terrain officer. The officer was much older and appeared, from Maces’ point of view, to have artificial limbs about his body.
The lights dimmed down and with them went the crackle of marines. Another officer approached the stand and called the room to attention. Just as Mace stood on his feet a younger man approached the center stand and had the hall relax. It was strange to hear a commander, even an Alliance commander, say relax rather than ‘at ease’. His voice was young and had a strong accent that Mace could not depict.
“Alright, I’m sure you’ve all heard the scuttle butt about where we’re heading.” He turned to a figure off the stage and nodded. A full three dimensional hologram of a planet illuminated the hall with a soothing green hue. After the planet took shape the commander began pacing about the stage floor as he explained the battle plan, “Verizon III, one of the colonies we’ve lost during the Reaper blitz. This is also going to be our staging point for the upcoming counter offensive.” The commander pulled out a laser pointer from his pocket and aimed towards a portion of the world. The planet dissipated into particles and reformed into a satellite view of a residential block. “We are going to hit here, it’s a living block just fifty clicks from the capitol. Just to answer some questions real quick ‘no’ we are not going to establish a command bunker. By commands will, we are going too establish a defensive wall. We’ll be going down in the birds at key points around the block. After touching down we rally at the center of the block and stage our line here.” He circled the pointers light around the center the block, “I know all of you don’t like sitting on your ass waiting to be relived, I don’t either. Command figures, with our reputation, if we can take the offensive then we can certainly hold a defense. The main objective for the Alliance is to send the bulwark of our counter force up north and retake the major cities. While they do that, we’ll be holding the back door for their command base. If we lose the line we lose the best advantage we have of taking the fight to the Barneys.” The commander clicked the trigger on his laser stick and the hologram dissipated as the room illuminated. “You will each be given a point to attack in the target area, report to your drop ships for more details. Now go kick some ass!”
******************************************************
The chest plate clanked against the shoulder guards as Mace ducked behind what he perceived as a brick column that had, only months before, been a white plastered wall. He dared a peek around the corner and found a crater just across a small road. Beyond that road was a dirt field that had once been a playground for the Residential block and now transformed into a no mans land. Mace could perceive, through the downpour, the silhouette of a Terrain Marine lying within the safety of a crater beyond the road.
The Terrain turned from gazing across the no mans land and found Mace staring from behind the tattered wall and frantically waved his hand towards him.
His eyes darted left and right of the wall as Mace shouted back “Is it clear?!”
The marine frenetically waved his hand, “Just move your ass!” He shouted.
With one last cautious glance Mace took in a deep breath and held tightly to his gear as he made a frantic rush from the column to the crater. He dropped into a roll and slid into the mound landing next to marine.
**************************************************
The Brood Lord, Viasss, observed the battle of the Terrains living block through his Gar eyes. The counter clicked the number of heat spots located amongst the rubble as it scanned through the downpour. Many of the spots emitted from behind piles of fallen dwellings. The Terrains were few, he thought, eagerly scratching the surface of his Gar. His fine senses picked up the familiar scent of his lower pack commander, Govissh, as he approached.
Gripping the hilt of his Shiva Shard, Govissh approached his master hoping to take part in the great hunt.
“Lord Viasss, my pack’ses is eager to hunt. We’ses wishes to be first in the charge?”
Viasss was silent as he continued to observe the hunting field. Another Pack leader, Kava, approached behind Govissh and snarled his razor maw at the smaller pack lord.
“Why does the spawn of a weak’ses say such things? Be back to your’ses fodder weak one, do not trouble Brood Lord with stink’ses!”
To be called a fodder was a great insult in Reaper culture, but for such a small thing like Viasss what could he do to such a massive beast like Kava? As the behemoth towered over Govissh, who curled with dread around Kava, the growl of Viasss caught their attention from each other.
“Lord Kava, fire sparkle shards upon the field, Pack lord Govissh you’ses pack will fire shard nests upon the hunting field. Once the Gourra Gun advances past nest, Govissh follows’ses behind and attacks cave mounds. Pack lord Kava, hold back and advance on my call’ses.”
*************************************************
A quick glance at the dark skinned marines’ armor tag registered him as ‘Private Spade’, his shoulder pad boasted a red viper encircling a sword as a scroll crossed the snake bearing the numbers ‘252’, designating him as a Marine of the 252nd Red Vipers. This man was not one of the marines from the Bloody Bull, thought Mace.
Sending a puzzled look upon the shoulder plate, Mace leaned against the craters’ wall trying to hold back his anxiety. “Wait a minute… isn’t this Residential Block B-3?” Subconsciously, Mace began breathing heavy and fearing that he might have gotten lost.
“Yeah it is,” replied Spade, “are you with the other Outfit that just got here?”
Mace braced the rifle close to his chest, “I think so. My bird got hit on entry and I was splashed a few clicks back. I don’t suppose you know if there are any other marines around here?”
“They’re probably just up a ways,” Spade tilted his head back towards the no mans land, “I ran into a Colonel for some outfit called Section Eight Blue, they deployed in that large hole up there.”
Mace took a quick glance over the edge and could make out the silhouettes of other marines in a larger crater at the far end of the playground. Just as he peeked over the edge a barrage of crystal shards screamed through the storm followed behind by the impact sparks of the enemy artillery. He quickly dropped back into the crater holding onto his helmet as though ensuring his head was still attached.
Just as he squeezed the head gear to his skull he turned to Spade, “Wait a second, if you’re from Red Vipers how the hell did you get here?” He shouted over the oncoming fire
“My ship got hit on entry. I don’t know if the rest of my outfit made it. After we crashed I made my way here. I was half expecting to get my ass chewed out by some white El tee but instead I get drafted by some nutty white colonel.”
******************************************************
The barrage suppressed the marines behind their cover. The Colonel listened to the battle net of his headset straining to hear the voice on the other end. A Shara’khan lay against the craters edge viewing the outside through a mirror stuck to his machete. Lying next to the creature was the eldest commander who pressed his belly against the crater.
“You see anything worth hitting?” Asked the old man as he waited for the moment he could get out of the dirt.
“No,” replied the beast.
“Well they need to start showing up,” groaned the old man as he examined his artificial arm, “my cy-arms getting drenched in this weather.”
The Colonel tapped on his head set and screamed into the micro, barely hearing himself over the noise, “Say again, Delta one, say again. You’re not coming in, over.”
The commanders’ voice was unclear as it ran through the headset, “…<brrr> unable to send <brrr> forements, hold your posi <brr> until relieved. Comm out.”
The Colonel tapped off the radio and cursed under his breath. Flipping the TAUNT into his retina, the Colonel surveyed the satellite feed. His map displaying the positions of the marines positioned around the main block and the enemy. Zooming out from the grid revealed the majority of his outfit scattered and lost in the zone. “Damn it, most of our guys are still missing!” The Colonel clicked the TAUNT back into his helmet and flinched as a Reaper shrapnel shard crashed next to the crater splashing the mud onto his helmet.
The Shara’khan yelled out over the heavy fire towards the Colonel, his deep voice booming and slightly accented. Keeping his head down, the Colonel quickly moved closer, “What have you got for me Savage?”
Handing the mirror over to the Colonel, Savage pointed to a large Reaper gun looming in the distance, “Armor, the enemy is making their approach and coming our way! Those Emm gees will have to be unlimbered before they can march on.”
An eager grin slowly made its way across the Colonels’ face as he returned the blade. “I got a plan keep your heads down for now.” Opening his command call through the radio, the Colonel shouted as loud as he could over the explosions, “This is Section Eight Blue Commander to all Marines! Grab any anti armor weapons you have and prepare to fire on my go! If you got a rifle take down the Barneys, if you have a rocket take down the Gun!” The colonel turned towards his war honed commander with a stern eye, “Savage, let me know when they get close.”
Savage nodded and returned his mirror to the edge of the crater. The marines readied their Gauss rifles while the rest prepared the racks inside the launchers.
***************************************************
Mace and Spade checked their weapons and waited for the signal.
Spade looked over at Mace with an excited grin, “How about it kid, are you ready to get in the war?”
“Not really a choice, is there?” Mace swallowed the lump in his throat as his fingers tapped along the grip of his Gauss.
******************************************************
Savage put his hand up, signifying for them to wait as the Reapers’ hovering gun howled past the crater followed by the stalking reptilian creatures. Savage held out his hand for the Colonel to see, signifying a pause.
******************************************************
The Reaper pack advanced ahead of the Gourra Gun and attacked the marines hiding behind the building rubble. Many of the reptilian hunters stalked over the rubble only to fall from rapid rounds into their natural armor.
Gouvissh ordered half his pack to suppress the Terrains as the remaining later followed alongside the Gourra Gun.
******************************************************
Savage watched as the armored vehicle hovered into view and closed his fist. O’Neal turned on his head set and ordered the assault. A squad of marines entrenched in the no mans land leaped out from their cover and sprayed the enemy with their rifles. The screeching roar of their Gauss’ captured the Reapers off balance as they stumbled over one another trying to seek shelter behind their gun.
Spade was the first to leap out of the crater firing his rifle at the Reapers, while Mace was two steps behind taking careful aim down the sites.
The armored gun hovered in place as it turned its massive cannon towards the sheltered Terrains. As the gun charged for the first volley, Savage leap out from the wide crater and brutally slashed his machete into the head plate of a Reaper, piercing the serrated blade through its skull. Just as he brought the blade down, the surviving Terrains of the housing rubble stood tall and fired their rounds into the backs of their hated enemy.
******************************************************
Taking refuge behind the fallen dwellings Gouvissh and his remaining pack avoided the spray of the Terrains. Screeching into the howl cone of his collar, Gouvissh called out for Spitter nests behind the gun. The twin carries of the Spitter gun dashed for their kill points as they built their nest along the desired points.
The Gourra Gun fired a straight burst of searing plasma upon the marines behind the rubble. The oozing fluid splashed into the rubble, melting the marines and their cover to a smooth puddle of gue. As the great cannon of the Gun sizzled under the rainfall, it hovered back towards Gouvissh taking shelter behind the ruins. As the Terrains attempted to rush the fleeing monstrosity, the shard needles along its side flared to life, grazing its red energies upon the Terrains. In reaction the bipedal creatures dived back to the safety of their ground holes.
As the Gun suppressed the Terrains the nests deployed their crystal spitters and eagerly waited too strike at any who dared appear before their eyes.
******************************************************
Upon realizing the Gun ceased its attack, the rocket marines stood to their feet and lunged out of the craters. Before firing their volley they were struck down by the nested Spitters. Their serrated crystal shards piercing through their protective plating and throwing the launchers out of reach from the marines.
The sudden arrival of Reaper nests caught the attention of the Colonel. Cursing the moment, he found the two privates Mace and Spade along with Savage in the same crater as he.
As the Nests continued to graze the area with their shards, the entrenched marines fired their Gauss over the safety of the mound.
With the rush of fear in his voice Spade turned to the Colonel, “What the hell do we do sir!” he queried.
“I’m open to ideas, private.” Replied the Colonel as he fired his own rifle over the edge.
The eldest marine reached for his supply belt and drew out a can of smoke.
“Colonel,” shouted the eldest, “I can throw a screen out there. Once it’s up we can send a team to go around and take out those nests. I’ll stay behind and take out the Gun.”
Nodding his head the Colonel turned to Savage, Spade and Mace, “You three are with me, when that smokes up stay on my ass.” As the three acknowledged the order the Colonel turned towards the eldest.
“Wingnutt,” barked the Colonel, “when that smoke goes up, take the platoon to the housing ruins. If that Gun wants to get us, it’s got to move first!”
As the eldest nodded the Colonel signaled the screen.
The can propelled through the air bouncing along the street and came to rest. As the Reapers queried over the object if burst into a think wall of smog, blinding the Reapers of their prey.
As the smog filled the air, marines ran for cover amongst the ruins of housing and wait for the screen to clear. As the marines ran for cover, the Colonel lead Savage, Spade and Mace towards a still intact housing construct. Unable and unwilling to charge the nest directly, Mace surmised that the Colonel was going to hit the nest from its side through the elongated house. As the smoke dissolved, the entrenched marines sprayed the air against the surviving Reaper pack hiding within the ruins beyond them.
Following behind the Colonel, Mace tracked along side Spade through the dinning halls of the refined building. The noise of gun fire shivered through the skeleton of the construct. Savage approached a wall covered in the torn strips of wallpaper and placed his ear to the surface. He listened for the crackling sound of the nest and turned to the Colonel, “The nest is just on the other side.”
“Any chance you can berserk through?” he asked knowing the Shara’khan would love the idea of rushing into the enemy.
A surprising shake of his head stunned the Colonel, “No, the wall is made of a stronger material. It would take more than one try for me to break through. The nest would be alerted to our presence if I tried.”
“Do you have any more satchels?” asked the Colonel.
“Negative.”
Savage tilted his gaze towards Mace and aimed his intimidating finger towards the young private, “You, do you have a satchel charge?”
Mace froze as the menacing shark looked his way. Pushing aside his fear, Mace mustered the words, “Yes…yes sir,” searching amongst his array of overall junk in his uniform Mace found the Satchel strapped around his waste.
After handing the device to Savage he prepared the device. As he prepared the detonator to the surface of the wall, the squad ducked behind cover in the kitchen and living quarters. Running behind the center stove of the kitchen Savage drew out his weapon and waited for the explosion.
***********************************************************
The Terrains were now split up in the resident block. The rocket marines pinned at the northern tip, fired from behind the protection of the dead house. As the Reaper Nest confined the rockets behind their protective wall, a fresh pack of Reaper stalk their way towards the house opening.
A marine shouted towards the eldest commander of another Reaper pack approaching around them.
“Hold here you beautiful bastards, shows these fuckers what you got!” As the marines shouted out in excitement the eldest activated the energy charge in his cy-arm attachment whilst firing his sub gun upon the aliens.
***********************************************************
To aid his kin, the Gourra Gun pilot maneuvered his favored device around the corner of the ruined construct. Trough his Gar eye he depicted the heat spots of Terrains behind the twisted rubble. Fingering his fire controls a bulb of plasma screamed over their heads. As he maneuvered back to cover the howl cone hissed to life with the voice of Brood lord Viasss.
“Gourra Gun, hold’ses still by dwellings. New pack’ses will aid your hunt.”
As the Gourra Gun hovered back behind the dwelling to protect Gouvissh and his surviving pack, Kava led his elite pack through the streets. As he galloped down the road, his keen eye found the silhouette of a Terrain pack moving through a still tact construct. Sending a majority of his elites towards the entrenched marines he led the pack towards the housing for a delightful hunt.
***********************************************************
The Satchel exploded through the wall sending the shockwave into the Spitter nest and spouting dust into the air. Savage was the first to rush out as he fired his weapon into the nest. Charging out from the hole the remaining team aimed down their sites and sprayed the larger Reaper force from behind.
**********************************************************
Gouvissh found the spray of Terrain fire from his side and quickly commanded his pack to assault the point. As the pack reached the corner of the road, he found the nest was destroyed and a small pack of Terrains spewing their disgusting colors upon the elite. Govissh was the first to leap in firing his Shard towards the towering Shara’khan, who had just made eye contact with the monstrous beast. As the pack joined in the assault, the ferocious creature turned towards them with blood red eyes. The ravenous beast growled in rage as it lunged forward with a large serrated blade in its grip. The shards bounced off its refined armor as it drew closer towards Gouvissh. He watched in horror as the creature brutally slashed out at a closer Reaper, slicing the kin in half with one swing and still charging towards him. Extending out his curved talon Gouvissh met the ferocity of the warrior.
***********************************************************
Savage lowered his discharge weapon and brought the serrated edge of his machete into the enemy blade. The first blow knocked its hand back allowing Savage to bring the hilt of his blade into its jaw. The sound of his fist impacting the aliens’ helmet echoed the crunch of its skull. As the pack leader lumbered back from the blow, Savage brought forth his weapon and fired a round through its head. As the body collapsed to the ground a familiar voice hollered behind the Shara’khan.
***********************************************************
“Pack Lord’ses Kava!” The raging screech of his Brood lord screeched through his’ howl cone, “Advance upon the prey’ses, take the caves!”
With a satisfied snarl Kava unsheathed his skinning fang and ordered the charge of his ferocious pack through the rubble.
***********************************************************
As Mace watched the barbering Shara’khan slaughter the pack with much joy, he found that a small portion of the larger Reapers were charging towards the blood thirsty commander. Quickly turning to his radio and aiming through the sites, Mace shouted to the Shara’Khan, “Get down!”
As Savage dropped to his knees he watched as the Reapers were sprayed with friendly fire. As the last fell Savage turned to young private and with his machete saluted in gratitude.
Before Mace could enjoy the moment of gratitude from the commander, his eye found the bulk of movement within the house in which they emerged. Turning towards the object Mace found another large Reaper pack charging through the house. His eyes widened with dread as he spied the shear size and bulk of these creatures, “Behind us!” he shouted to the team firing the last of his Gauss down the hall. With that mark Mace dived for the outer wall and reloaded his rifle whilst the Colonel and Spade held back the oncoming Reaper elites.
***********************************************************
A wicked Grin grew upon the tattered maw of Kava as he watched the desperate Terrains spray their colors beyond the cavern. Sending the rest of his pack the opposite way Kava planned to close in on the prey either from his way or he other.
