2. Chapter 2
Chapter two
-Bryce-
I stared out of the viewscreen as the shuttle swayed and jumped in the planet’s atmosphere. The breathtaking landscape rushed by below: a wide orange desert at the very edge that gave way to a lush and colorful jungle. An immensely wide river carved a sparkling path through it, before disappearing between craggy purple mountains. It looked like some kind of natural paradise, and part of me ached to explore it all, discover each wonder it no doubt had to offer. But hidden somewhere under that beautiful view, danger lurked. A savage race known only as the ‘Aldar’. I shifted and let out a slow breath. Nothing I hadn’t dealt with before. I tapped my knee, feeling the strange, metallic thunk, and tried to return to what was going on around me in the shuttle.
“I hope these aliens are the kind with three tits,” Rand said.
I snorted. “What? There are no three-boobed aliens. Where did you hear that?”
“I saw it in an old documentary.”
“You’re getting classic sci-fi movies and documentaries confused again. Sorry to break it to you.”
He jostled me, knocking our plated shoulders together. “Hey, don’t be sour grapes. I bet they’ve got foot-long cocks too.”
A groan from the other side of the shuttle. “Sweet Jesus.”
O’Neill sat hunched on the bench, his smooth, tanned skin a shade greener than usual. He looked how I felt. This was a big one for his first mission. Even the most experienced mercenary would be nervous, we’d just learned to use crude humor and antics to cope with it. It probably didn’t help that the cramped cabin swayed and vibrated as we descended towards the surface of the planet, jostling the bodies of the men crammed inside. Add in the hot, fusty air that you got when you have a large number of guys in a small space and it would be enough to make anyone queasy. He looked so nervous and young in his armor suit, I had to remind myself that I was only a few years older than him. He was so young-faced and fresh, whereas I was…well. I was missing an entire leg, let’s just say that. I’d been with the company since I was old enough to join.
I leaned down and said quietly, “Look outside at a fixed point, it should help.”
He nodded shakily and fixed his eyes on the clear screen on the far side of the cabin. We didn’t have an official name for the planet yet, the guys had started calling it ‘Forbidden Planet’ as a joke. We didn’t know much about the aliens either, most of the information was classified, and the intel we were given told of torture, twisted science experiments, and all sorts of bad shit. So O’Neill was probably the most sane out of all of us. But the guys upstairs gave us our orders, and I wasn’t going to blow my second chance. I wasn’t going to let my team down again.
We’d done things like this before, exploring new planets, discovering new species, but it was the first one since the accident. It was my opportunity to prove to everyone that I was fine . I’d had time off to recover, too much time if you asked me, and now I was ready to pull my weight and earn my keep. I was going to prove my worth.
I looked at the other men in the shuttle who made up the selected team, all faces I’d come to know like the back of my hand and consider as good as family. Well, the closest I’d ever come at least. These were my guys. It was quite possible that my rag-tag bunch was going to be the first to make contact with the Aldar race. Well, first intentional contact, at least.
The actual first contact was the reason we were being sent to this beautiful but savage world in the first place, and the story was straight out of one of Rand’s old movies. Two years ago, a scientific exploration ship was investigating some kind of black hole thing and ended up getting sucked in. They got shot out into unknown space and boarded by the ‘Aldar’, who then took the crew captive.
After that, the accounts that I’d read got muddled and a lot of it was redacted, but they were experimented on. I was glad the gory details were classified, because I seriously didn’t want to get nightmares about that. Eventually, the crew managed to escape and thought they were in the clear. That’s when things got really weird.
There was this one guy who’d been experimented on more than the others, and they’d managed to get him out. But as they were getting away, he’d gone wild, became violent, fighting them all and saying he had to go back. They tried to stop him, but there was nothing they could do. He managed to break out of the ship and went back to the aliens. That was the last anyone had ever seen or heard of him.
The reports didn’t go into any more detail, but I’d heard that the aliens had done something to his head, brainwashed him somehow, so they could control him. I shuddered. My dreams were already bad enough without all this nightmare fuel.
That was two years ago, gods knew what they’d been doing to him all this time. Poor dude. It had been difficult to locate the planet now that the wormhole was closed but we were here now on a shuttle from our warship, the I-S-S Destroyer stationed two systems over, ready to deliver a message to these brutes that you don’t mess with humans. We were going to get that man back, one way or another.
“So if you’re so sure they don’t have three tits, what do you think they’re gonna look like?” Rand said.
“I dunno, but apparently they’re savage as hell.”
Clyde sat forward. “I heard they’re ten feet tall, with eight spiny legs and eyes all over their heads, like giant spiders. And they lay eggs inside your brain that eat you from the inside until they burst out of your eye sockets.”
O’Neill’s eyes widened and he turned a shade greener. “What?”
“He’s messing with you,” I said, slapping my hand on his shoulder. “They’re actually 12 feet tall.”
His eyes looked like they were going to pop completely out of his head. “You’re joking, right?” He glanced between me and Clyde. “Right?”
“Yeah, man, we’re joking.” I laughed. “But whatever we meet down there, we’ll be ready.” I patted the blaster at my side. It was heavy and well-used; a big, two-handed weapon of black metal that could spit a phaser blast powerful enough to take down raging lunar bovine in one hit, and it had. It’d saved my ass many times before, and it wasn’t about to let me down now. I traced my fingers along its pitted surface, its roughness reassuring, until they found the most recent gouge and stopped.
“I don’t know why we’re bothering to go down there,” Rand said. “We should be bombing the fuckers from space.”
“How, exactly, are we meant to get the hostage back if we bomb the whole place?” Clyde said.
Rand was handsome, sure, in a wide-jawed kind of way. He reminded me of those guffawing boys I used to watch on the sports field at school when I lusted after anything on legs with a dick. But he wasn’t the brightest of the bunch.
I opened my mouth to ride his ass, when there was a loud bang as the landing gear extended. I gasped and flinched so hard I hit my head on the wall behind me. A couple of the guys looked at me in surprise. I bristled and busied myself sorting out a non-existent problem with my blaster. When I checked again, everyone was back to normal. All except Clyde, who was watching me with concern in his eyes. And worse, pity.
Chief strode into the cabin. “Alright, listen up, boys, we’re landing in ten! We don’t know what’s waiting for us down there; couldn’t send the drones for fear of detection, so keep your wits about you and stay alert. The longer we go unnoticed, the better. And remember, we’re not here to fight unless we have to, so keep those weapons down, but ready. I need three men to be on point.”
“Requesting permission, sir,” I said, jumping to my feet and saluting smartly. I still wasn’t totally used to my new leg, even with the hours of rehab, and the metal floor felt unsteady beneath me.
Behind me, Rand muttered “Teacher’s pet” under his breath. I ignored him.
Chief regarded me for a second before nodding. “Granted. Clear the landing site while we get base camp set up and the cloak dome going. Jones, Fordham, you’re with Gunner.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, saluting again.
Chief addressed the whole cabin. “The aim here is to investigate, see what the enemy’s setup is, and get our man out safely.”
“And get some alien pussy,” Rand added.
There was a round of half-suppressed sniggers.
Chief sighed. “No, there will be no physical contact with them. We don’t know how they got control of the hostage, and we’re not taking any chances of that happening to us.”
“But what if they’re hot?”
“Jesus, Rand, we’re making first contact with a possibly hostile alien race and all you can think about is getting laid?” Rand shrugged and sat back. “So that means everyone, and I mean everyone, keep it in your pants.” Chief looked over all of us. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And any more smart comments from you, Rand, and I’ll throw you out of the shuttle myself.”
Rand looked offended.
“Gunner. It’s good to have you back, son.”
I tried not to swell with pride too much, but my pleased smile was unavoidable.
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir,” I said. Chief gave me one of his rare nod-and-smiles, then strode over to look out of the view screen. I followed his gaze. The shuttle skimmed low over the trees so as to not attract any unwanted attention. I wondered what was waiting for us below.
I engaged my helmet, and it slid forward, covering my head.
Whatever it was, I’d be the first to face it.