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The Seeping: A Tale of 2 Pilots by Gruntar
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The Seeping: Tales of 2 Pilots Part 1
Date: 13 August 2003, 6:49 PM
The Blue Rosewas cruising at a steady pace throughout the Sector 32 Outer Colonies. Jim Lanervel awoke late as usual. He strolled throughout the cabin of his vessel sluggishly, for he had been sleeping restlessly for the past 7 nights. The smell of coffee was permeating the room, and his comrade looked at him with a slight sense of scorn.
"You shouldn't be so careless, Jim. Especially when the ship is under need of maintenance." Jim's comrade turned back toward the counter and stirred his now cream colored beverage. He was a man by the name of Richard Mernova, who met Jim at an unexpected location back home. Richard was always searching for thrills. His passion and goal was to leave his home planet and travel the universe. In order to achieve this, he went mercenary-hunting at local taverns near his hometown. Most pilots who stalled there were vile, cynical men. Rich could see right through their thin visage, and viewed the scoundrel within. At first glance, Jim seemed to be your generic pilot-stereotype, but something caught Rich's eye. The man had honor, and a sense of compatibility.
Rich never expected to actually start a conversation with Jim that day, but things work in mysterious ways. On his way out of the bar, two gruff looking mercenaries proceeded to attack Mernova. They were very brisk, fierce, and obviously, extremely intoxicated. They claimed he was staring at them while sitting at his bar stool, and that his problem was in need of being brought into the open. The two thugs cornered Rich, and menacingly positioned their arms on the wall behind him. "Alright you little curious punk, let's settle this! Gorge, get me my club! I'm gonna beat this loser into a pulp!"
It seemed as if there wasn't any hope left for the aspiring star-expolorer at this point. As soon as the rotund maniac got back from his transport vehicle with the "club", it would all come to an end. Suddenly, a man burst out of the entrance. It was the pilot who Rich was analyzing just before. He carried a large glass bottle in hand, tinted brown. There were remains of the liquid settled at the bottom. The man lunged forward with his glass bottle. It shattered on the neck of one of the bullies, and his eyes began to roll back in his head. "Like hitting people with clubs, eh?" The second villain then came speeding toward Jim on his motorbike. "Eat this you wannabe pilot pansy!" He was holding on to the "club" his counterpart had mentioned before. "Heheheh." The now brave vigilante laughed as he pulled out a small pistol from his pants pocket. "Hey, BUDDY, you got a flat! Better fix it." A miniscule dart ejected from the tip of the weapon and slid into the skin of the lower tire. It burst and in a flash of excitement, the degenerate was entangled in the remains of his vehicle.
"You saved my life, and I can't repay you. My family is poor, and we need whatever money is left to live without hassle." The pilot felt the anguish and pain in the young man's heart. "Well, maybe you can you ride with me. I'd like to have another aboard. It gets lonely traveling space all alone. Yep. I should know." The dream seemed to be fulfilled, and the rest of the memory was a blur to Rich.
"What the hell are you doing staring in to space, Rich?" "Sorry, I was just thinking about times past. It's still no excuse for you to be so irresponsible!" "I'm sorry Rich, things have been bothering me. A lot is on my mind" "Like what?" CRASH! An earth-shattering jolt rocked the vessel. "What the hell was that!" Jim was now screaming at the top of his lungs. Mernova ran to the monitor and began searching the radar. The ensuing sight was one to behold. "The Covenant have been monitoring this Sector for some time now due to military activity. It seems there is an outpost not too far away. Jim, we are being attacked..."
Jim began to hold his head. He was infuriated and at the same time nervous of what might happen next. "DAMN IT! THEY RIPPED A HOLE IN THE HULL!" Rich was in a state of awe. It was incomprehensible! How could the Covenant not be seen on military surveillance? And how is it possible for them to have an outpost in this territory? It just didn't make sense. "Alright Rich, let's try the COM channel. Maybe we can get a view of the ship's structure through the monitor." "Wait a minute! Their ship seems to be damaged also..." Jim and Rich started into each others faces in astonishment. How could they be attacking us if they have significant damage to their own vessel?
The COM channel was a futile effort, and they were approaching a small planet, almost the size of a moon. This was in turn, another shock for the two on board the BlueRose, for that wasn't on the radar at all. Jim kept fiddling with the communications equipment while Rich kept monitoring the radar. "RICH! DISTRESS SIGNAL! BVRING HER UP ON THE MONITOR! IT'S GOMING FROM THAT MOON!" Rich pressed a few buttons on the ship's control panel. The monitor began to show a Covenant soldier all ravaged and in need os serious medical attention. He was bloodied by some monstrous force, and neither men wanted to find out what. The soldier, which appeared to be an Elite, spoke into the monitor. "HELP!!! HELP!! PLEASE!1 THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! THEY WERE ON THE SHIP WHEN WHE LEFT THE LAST RENDEVUE POINT!" Jim began to speak. "What do you mean? Who are "they" and why would you be asking your so called 'enemies' for help?" "PLEASE LISTEN, HUMANS NEED TO HELP...SUPPLIES....FLOOD....INFESTATION.........." "Hello? Come in, are you there? Hello?!" ".........." The monitor became filled with static, and the picture faded out slowly. There were obviously bizarre occurrences happening in that outpost, and to make matters worse, their vessel was about to explode due to damages. But, if the Covenant were in need of aid, how could they attack us? Jim made up his mind.
"Let's go, we don't have much time, Rich." Rich sluggishly walked to the stern of their vessel and awaited the blast door to lower. They were going in. They were out of options. , They knew the situation became more than they bargained for.....
To be continued...
The Seeping: Tales of 2 Pilots Pt. 2
Date: 21 August 2003, 2:27 AM
Jagged rock and eroded pebbles skipped along the surface of the desolate moon Jim Lanervel and Richard Mernova had just set foot upon. They were steadily moving towards the massive structure in the horizon. Stranded without fuel and beckoned to aid a hostile alien race, both men were bewildered and perhaps in a state of shock. "Jim, are you SURE we should just trod along here on this God-forsaken rock without any knowledge of what lies ahead? Or what we are up against? Do you have any conception of the DANGER we are getting into? I mean, a head Covenant military official begging us for help? Shouldn't we just stay back on the ship and use the COM link to send an S.O.S.?" Jim turned abruptly with his hands resting on his hips. "You want the truth? Okay, then. The COM is busted." Mernova fell on his backside, causing the natural debris under him to crackle. Unknowingly, he held his head and looked straight at his comrade. "WHAT? Jim, how, how did this happen? It worked for that, that MONSTER to communicate. Why not now?" "You felt the landing right? You saw how we crashed. Smashed right into a boulder. Not only did it knock our communications offline, the power is cut. We were lucky as hell to get the blast door open, I'll tell you that." Rich got up from his partially crouched position and once again began to walk toward the gargantuan monstrosity. "I trusted you Jim. You helped me many times in the past, but you were never fully open. I'm going to find out the truth. I guarantee it. For now, let's collaborate to get out of this situation alive. We're still friends Jim, but I want to know why you can't just be honest." Lanervel stood and glanced back at his partner trudge along the grainy terrain. His conscious began to bombard him with reality once again.
The two finally came upon the monstrous sliding doors of the Covenant complex. Their luster reflected distorted images of the pilots. There seemed to be a camera in the upper right corner of the entryway. Jim continuously slid his hand in front of the surveillance equipment to and fro until a response came from within the structure. There was a thin, plated monitor dangling in front of the entrance. It began to show an image and the men viewed with speculation. Fear was beginning to grip their minds. A sudden voice then came from the monitor. It was from the same Elite that had previously spoken to the pilots back on the BlueRose. "Attention human castaways! I am Qudar, the leader of this outpost. We thank you for coming to our rescue. It is unfortunate that your vessel in turn was damaged. Sadly, that it is matter we can not control." Jim was eager to speak first, which he did, despite cutting off Mernova. "Alright, Qudar, let's get some things cleared up. First, how can you not control you're a member of your own fleet? Second, what's wrong with this place? Why are you in need of aid?" The Elite looked down for a moment, and then began to press certain buttons on the panel in front of him. "What the hell are you doing?" The Elite's image began to fade. "Look human, and find the answers yourself."
The monitor began to show gruesome images. Blood splattered all over, bodies piled on top of each other, horrible, grizzly, sounds echoing through the halls. It was too much for even an experienced pilot like Jim to handle. He began to shout. "PLEASE! TELL ME! WHAT DID THIS?" The screen yet again became filled with static, and Qudar stared down at the floor in silence for a few moments. He then brought his head up, and mumbled as he began to speak. "The story is very strange. We as Covenant, let alone a human, cannot understand its purpose. It began not too long ago when some of our fleet was ordered to fight on a ring world far from here. UNSC forces were combating us there. We were in the center of a ferocious battle. It seemed as if both the humans' and Covenants' bellicose tendencies were put to their full potential that day. However, a life form, unknown to us emerged out of the dark. Many brave souls remained there, and fought while others cowered away and fled. I am sorry to say our men were probably the first to escape. Although I and every other official here at this facility was not pleased with the consequences of the quarrel, it seemed there were larger hurdles ahead of us. The parasitic organism, now confirmed as the Flood, somehow seeped onboard one of our vessels. They have infiltrated our outpost and possessed almost all of soldiers and staff. A few bodyguards and I are the only survivors. We were able to escape their path of carnage, and barricade ourselves inside the innermost portions of the structure. The security system seems to be only working in certain sporadic areas throughout the building. Our location is one of the few in lockdown currently. However, thanks to their ability to control other organisms, the Flood were able to use our men as puppets to ward off or destroy nearby vessels by using the ship which attacked you."
Mernova began to pace while taking in this information. Jim paused and interrogated Qudar once more. "You're telling me that some tiny parasite attacked my ship via your armada?" The Elite began to become cross. "If you do not believe or accept my story, you will perish here, I hope you understand that. As of now, you have 20 minutes until the Flood are able to hack all of our security systems and infect us in turn. We need you to escort us out of the facility before this happens. Then we can use our newly discovered energy source to repair your ship and carry all of us to safety. Of course, our vessels are destroyed and there are no weapons in this part of the complex. There is an emergency armory located by the entrance. You will need to find that in order to free us."
Jim slammed his fist on the rigid door in front of him. "Cut the crap. Look, I'll help you. Just remember I won't hesitate to shoot if there is any suspicious behavior, got that?" The Elite laughed in a hoarse, deep tone. "Of course, fully comprehensible behavior, my human friend." Jim looked up at the monitor with a sarcastic and puzzled look on his face. "I shall open the entrance to the facility from here. Remember time is of the essence."
The massive doors began to slide open, while sounds of crushing rock and moving machinery came from within the structure. Rich rummaged through his belongings to find the last bit of food left to devour before the hell that awaited him. Lanervel grew impatient, and exploded. "You heard the bastard, time is of the essence! Let's go!" Rich threw his nourishment on to the cold, hard ground beneath him. Both men then began to march into what seemed like a black abyss.
To be continued…
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