The Evergreen Files: Banshee; Book One

The Evergreen slipped out of faster than light travel with grace and elegance, Solomon could see The Infinity from his chair, the Silver ship was offset, it looked as if it was adrift. No lights could be seen along its beautiful hull or where the command bridge sat, but that did not worry Solomon or Kyril half as much as the fact there was no sign of the other ship. “Hopeful, come in. This is Evergreen, we require a location, copy?” said the communications officer into his microphone to no response. Kyril told the officer to keep trying the lines as he got a response from another officer that the Infinity was in full lock down and not responding. “Solomon, we are going to have to go aboard... I’m bored of boarding our own ships by force now, Lieutenant Commander.” said Kyril with a long sigh as he rubbed in between his eyes. The worst began to enter Solomon’s mind, he could see with Kyrils face and most of the crew’s that they had the same thoughts. Pirates. The Hopeful, possibly taken, waiting just out of sensual range, waiting to ambush.

With caution the priority, The Evergreen moved slowly towards The Infinity, weapons online, double sensory teams had come on to the bridge and Kyril had ordered yellow alert. Creeping onwards the best a ship that size could. Kyril ordered another communications officer to try hail The Infinity, the ship lay derelict, adrift through the void, with no signs of life. The Evergreen received no communications of any kind, Kyril ordered some one to check the signal relay of the ship, to make sure that their messages were sending correctly. The messages were being received, but not answered.

The wind blew softly through the long and tall foliage, Theo walked through grass brushing just above his knees, green as back home, lush in colour, thick enough that he could not see the dirt beneath his advancing feet. The sun to his and his platoons back. Jones had point, she walked proudly, fifty meters in front of the group, her red helmet attached to her side belt, hanging loosely as she walked. The platoon had chosen the path of open field, the Mares had more chance to ambush and strike unexpectedly within the trees, and with no other known hostile faction to use projectile force, they had come to their path and decided that open ground was far more advantageous. Only the human team had deployed, with the vacancy of the Evergreen companies, command decided to place the joint operations with the Gryph Forces stationed near by at Forgod on hold for now.

The wind brought the unusual scent of the ocean, salty but bringing with it the decay of plants and wildlife, the group halted, they knelt in the grass, reserving energy whenever they could. Jones checked her compass and GPS map on her pad. After a few minutes, they were off again, changing direction east, this brought them dangerously closer to the tree line, Theo and his squad trained their eyes on the ever moving trees and shrubbery for anything hostile. Anything with teeth bigger than their forearms.

The grass became higher, thicker and suddenly became full of a sour odour, the group stopped again once the sour odour was behind them, kneeling once more, they passed around food rations and water. Corn bread and dried steak, nice, but not perfect. Theo always dropped a little bit of his water on his steak to make it slightly more bearable. The trees lay just a few meters on either side, their eyes never leaving the perimeter for more than a few seconds, thick trees lay ahead of them, this was the point where they had to enter the infested forests. The nest is located roughly three miles ahead of them. “So, what does a Mare nest actually look like?” asked Jack to Theo. Theo simply blinked at the question as he quickly realised, he had no idea what he, himself was looking for. “Hey, Boss, what does a Mare nest look like?” repeated Theo to Jones. She just looked at him, as if she hadn’t heard the question for a moment before replying in a dull, monotone. “Simple. We find mud where they lurk, if they defend it, it’s their nest. If it’s their nest, we kill it. Basic and simple.” she said, “Hell if I know what one looks like.”

After they had their fill of dried steak and corn bread, the group began their journey into the thick forest with trees as thick as a houses, some no more than a couple of inch in diameter. The mud was dry and resembled more dust than sludge, despite their best efforts and years of training, their soft well practised footsteps cracked every twig, loudly crinkled every fallen leaf, they had to stop every twenty or so meters to make sure they are not been followed or worse yet, stalked.

One mile left. No Mares. Jones was more on edge that Theo had ever seen her, she was stopping every five strides now. This was greatly slowing the mission down. Half a mile to go. Jones stopped again and lowered herself as she usually did when she was listening for an enemy. ′crack’ came a log falling from a tree somewhere close by. The whole platoon jumped, raising their weapons in the direction of the noise. The wrong way. Once the fallen tree log had stopped making its noise, Theo’s hairs stood on the back on his neck. He could hear the not too distant growling of a creature. A soft, yet sharp growling, as if the creature was trying to remain quiet, but was overcome with excitement of the clueless pray that had walked straight into a trap. Jack heard it too, turning in the direction of the noise, Jones was next, but all she had time to do was turn. Her harshly aged eyes saw only a flash of red as a Mare drove straight through the group, knocking soldiers under the thick sea of high grass, screams could be heard as somebody was dragged off, their weapon firing wildly, followed by a high wailing scream. “Form a defence circle!” cried Jones as she unloaded her weapon into the moving walls of bushes that flanked both sides of the group. Three more Mares advanced through the greenery, roaring as they charged, falling as they died. Another charged, catching Butch Moon by the waist with its muzzle and flung him over the bush wall, they quickly lost sight of him as he fell over the top. The Mare was put down in the centre of the group. The bushes and trees had stopped violently moving now. “Butch!” called Jones, “Who else was taken?” asked a soldier from the rear, before a head count could be done, the sound of something advancing through the bush wall made the group form the circle again. “Butch, here!” called a man before he came any further. “Butch! Get over here!” called Jones as he emerged from the bush, his armour had blood soaking in to his back. The medic ran feverishly to his side, to find he only suffered from minor cuts to his face and neck. “The blood isn’t mine. Private Kien is dead, I landed on top of her... she’s torn apart. Here.” he said sadly as he handed Lieutenant Jones a chain with a dog-tag hanging from it, reading Olive Kien, Private, Blood A+, 7th Company, Second Platoon, 4th Squad. Jones took the dog-tags solemnly and attached it to an empty keychain, taking a silent moment to recall all the dog-tags that have hung from that chain. Hoping she would never fill it again.

The Nest resembled more of a cave entrance, no more than an opening of rocks on a cliff face. Mares waddled lazily in and out of the entrance, carrying corpses of animals from hunts and long blades of grass and shrubbery for bedding. Remains of devoured prey lay upon the grass, rotting in the sun. “Helmets on, safeties off.” whispered Jones over the radio, she also gave the order for the group to attach suppressors to the barrels of their assault rifles. Spreading her soldiers out in a long line, as silently as possible across the threshold of the tree line, they slowly advanced. “Fire” came Jone’s old and sharp voice over the radio’s no more than a whisper, followed by the subtle hiss of the weapons firing. Slight groans came from the creatures as well placed shots felled them instantly. As the last fell, as clueless as before the shots, the soldiers moved towards the entrance, covering all directions with their rifles. The nest entrance stank of unkept animals, the natural light would only go so far. Theo could see about ten meters into the cave before it plunged into darkness. “Sector Zero One, we have located and secured the entrance to the nest... affirmative... Advance.” ordered Jones, and Theo was the first in.

Commander Broom sat in his office at the highest point of the command structure, the walls mainly glass, featuring some metal lines that were used as briefing screens, the screens came from two L shaped metal objects that mostly resembled brackets, only two feet in length, they projected an interactive screen between the two brackets and disappeared when not used. A stairs shaft stood at one side of the room that also supported the ventilation system to keep the room cool from the ever-blazing sun. The roof was glass too, up until the stairs entrance where it changed to boring metal work. Pouring over reports of accidents, fights, supplies, all the usual mind numbing things that made him regret ever accepting command, he found himself nodding his head as his eyes fell heavier and heavier, it was only when the warning klaxon fired up, and the Door sprung to life, that was sealing out the staircase, spitting out his secretary. A broad masculinely dressed woman who had a shaven head, came in, “Sir, we have an approaching fleet, they have fired upon the Gryph space station, our fleet is moving into defensive positions. What are your orders?” she fired out quickly.

The Vengeful and The Iron Fist retreated to Merridien IV’s orbital pull with the remaining six Gryph ships. The Judgement was still in low orbit, it was going to be another hour before they could get into the formation, Winslow’s excuse was “I have to make sure my ship is battle ready before I commit.” his fear had clearly taken control, he had no intention of fighting. He wanted to sit in safety and let other people die for him and win him the battles. “Arrogant Stupid bloody coward!” roared Commanding Captain Bush of The Vengeful. “Okay, comms, contact the Gryph command ship, ask when their main fleet will arrive, see if -” he was cut short by a tactical officer, “Sir! We have more incoming! Reading fifteen more signals!” Adrian Bush tensed in his chair. Fifteen more ships. Ten had already entered the area and destroyed the command station easily, along with most of the Gryph ships. Twenty five ships, against eight. They had no chance without the Gryph Main Fleet. “Julie, what’s your status?” asked Bush tapping into the communications to The Iron Fist, “Adrian, we are ready to rumble, screw Winslow, let’s kick these guys off our lawn, then we can stick our boots up Winslow’s arse!” came the voice of The Commanding Captain of The Iron Fist.

Zhou sat with his mighty fleet, lining up perfectly, just out of range of The Gryph and Human Ship’s weapons, all his ships had been painted different colours, he was not risking his enemies identify his commanders again, red, purple, green, yellow and even pink ships had lined up. “Ready the weapon, Doctor. Prove you are worth what you cost me” said Zhou with a slick and slimy voice “ok boys! let’s have some fun! Everyone, stay behind me.” he called into a ceiling mounted drop down microphone he had fitted. Bush saw them advance. And ordered everybody forward, The Gryph obliged, the main fleet was two hours away, all they had to do, was hold off until then. Zhou smiled gleefully, showing his many missing teeth. “Just a few more... just a little bit more.... ha! Fire the weapon!” he laughed. A blinding blue flash erupted from the front of his ship and everything in front of Zhou’s ship died. Lights flickering, as they began drifting. It had taken Adrian a few minutes to realise that they had been hit with an EMP device. “Get life support back online, shields, weapons! Anything!” he cried desperately. They were all sitting ducks. Bracing for an impact that never seemed to come. Zhou’s ships still advancing had not yet fired any other weapon, they approached closer and closer. Getting so close to finish them with a well aimed shot thought Bush. It was only when The Pirate fleet passed the drifting ships did Bush question everything. “Get life support back online!” he cried again. The Pirates ignored the human and Gryph ships and headed straight for the planet behind them. This was an invasion.

Zhou Smile grew even larger, showing more and more rotting gum. His ship was now just above Merriden IV, “Doctor, it is time.” he said softly into his microphone and a weapon fired a single shuttle at the planet, towards the Red Sector, a shuttle that will bypass all the defences.

Broom had his soldiers stationed all around the perimeter and everywhere else, arming most of them with anti-air weapons, expecting some pirate small craft to break through, causing enough damage on the ground, to distract the defending fleet, make them fight on two fronts. Broom was no fool, he knew what was coming, he had the experience of planetary defence before. The enemy would attack the fleet, and also send down some attacks to the planet to cause confusion. He was going to make every pirate that broke through sorry that they had even been born. He stood in his glass office, eyes straight up at the sky, every single one of his wall monitors were active, and at them stood an able officer, controlling orders to a company somewhere around the sector. That, was when Broom saw the falling object that he took as part of a ship from above. The flaming object was in fact a shuttle containing his very doom. “It’s heading straight for the eastern wall!” cried Broom “Sir! It’s registered as a shuttle from The Judgement! She must have taken damage as some broke through!” he spoke just before it pummelled into the defence wall of the eastern side turning the once strong wall of metal and dirt into nothing put a hundred meter crater with smoke and fire billowing forth from it’s gaping wound. Broom stared at the smoke through his glass room, rising into the air, he called a fire team to contain the blaze and a medical team to tend to any wounded.

“Sir! We have twenty seven wounded, nine dead of ours, however, there seems to be ten bodies inside the debris, they are dead, mangled and burned!” came a voice over the comms of the medical team leader “wait.” he came again. “Hold on, they’re not dead! Somebody get stretchers over here! These people need he-” Broom raised his eye brows in disbelief, whoever it was, they came down like a meteorite, there is no chance of survival! “why did they cut off?” asked Broom rubbing his temples, “Try and raise them again.” Broom’s eyes hurt against the sun that constantly fired through his glass room. “Sir, no contact. It’s strange..” said his secretary who had control of one of the consoles. Before Broom could give another order, every console fired into life with radio chatter. “Contact! Contact!” came cries over the radios, “What the hell are they!? Open fire!” came another voice, “Kill it! Kill it! Argh, No!” cried another, within fifteen minutes, he had lost contact with three companies, but no enemy contacts coming from the sky. They had penetrated past him somehow. “Bring up a Helmet Cam for anyone still alive on the ground, near the combat! I want eyes on the enemy!” spat Broom. It took a few minutes to find the Helmet Cam feed of a young private Sanders, they could hear his heavy breathing, pure fear was clearly dominating his mind, he had begun muttering to himself, asking to be saved by some god he surely had just made up and hoped existed. The glass room held their breaths, they had tried to contact Sanders to no avail. It seems he had been separated from his unit, or simply become the only survivor. He entered a room, dusty and dark, it was a barracks, he ran straight to an ammunition crate at the other end of the dark room, opening it and filled his pockets and rifle and suddenly stopped breathing. Turning frantically towards a hissing noise that had suddenly appeared. A tall slender frame of a form that resembled more of a skeleton than a body, long thin arms with long blades for fingers, its skin a pale orange colour, it’s pale eyes fixed upon Sanders, needle teeth glistened wet as it drooled, sniffing its prey. Sanders fired two rounds before his screams filled the glass room. The Helmet Cam had soon been terminated at Sanders’ end. The room knew he was dead. “What the hell was that thing!?” demanded Broom. The Officers blinked stupidly, all of their experiences drained from the shocking image they had just witnessed. They could not think of what to do. Broom’s secretary cast her eyes across their blank stupid faces in disbelief, “You idiots! Form a secondary defence perimeter and start evacuating The Gryph Citizens!” she cried and the commanders stumbled to their controls to fulfil their orders. “Sir! we have a breach in the command building! They’re pouring in!” came a voice over the console. Broom walked back to his desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out an assault rifle. “Ladies and Gentlemen, let us today, earn our pay cheque.” with a loud loading of the rifle, Broom shouldered his weapon with a curt smile. He missed this. He missed Combat.

The Cavern reflected the soldiers glow lights, a foreboding green tint illuminated the way ahead, Theo and Jack had point, their feet soft against the wet ground, the stone ceiling hung low in places, Theo caught his helmet on the edges from time to time, followed by a short curse from Theo and a smirk and snigger from Jack. The path veered left, right, down and down, twisting and turning. About half a mile underground is when they came to their first junction. The stone burrow split into three passages. Theo and Jack dropped a lighting pack at the entrance to all three, lowering themselves to their knees, the contacted Jones on the radio, who was with the rest of the group, somewhere behind them in the darkness. “Lieutenant, we have a junction here, three entries, we have dropped lighting packs and are awaiting for join up.” said Theo softly in his radio. An acknowledgement came crackly and off-sounding. Theo was glad his armour was brown in colour, it blended into most things better than most of the other colours of the expedition fleet, their red helmets is what gave them away to spying eyes. Within ten minutes, the platoon had joined up, and decided to split into three teams, Lieutenant Jones was to take three of her own squad and go down the central passage, Sergeant Wilhelm was to take Theo and two others down the right side, Sergeant Serv was to remain at the junction and cover their exit. The cave was hot and the air seemed close, humidity was high, the tunnels gave a whistle with the slight breeze from the entrance high above ground. Theo knew that if he took his helmet off, he would not be able to feel the wind, thankfully, his suit of armour kept him cool enough to work. It was not long before the radio was busy once more with confirming kills, three, five, ten kills now. Theo’s group had not found a single enemy in their path, he did not know whether to be thankful or worried. Were the red creatures stalking his team as Wilhelm led them deeper into the cavern? Were they laying in ambush in some narrow passage, ready to tear them limb from limb?

It was when Wilhelm slipped on a slimy rock that they heard the distant roar of falling water, the rocky jagged ceiling was damp and dripping in places, Wilhelm thought they were near an underground waterfall, as they drove deeper and found stalactites and stalagmites rising and dropping from the floors and ceilings. “We must be near the centre.” said Wilhelm, “Surely they would have settled near fresh water.” he added as they continued deeper. After an hour of heading in the direction of the roaring water, sometimes the echo had thrown them down the wrong path, turned them around and cost them time, they found the end of their passage, cut off by the falling liquid. They had come behind the waterfall. This made it obvious as to why the creatures had not sensed their approach due to the noise and smell brought by the falling water, Theo edged stealthily to the edge, peeking his head out from the falling liquid, quickly pulling back. “about fifteen obvious enemies, looking restless.” he whispered to Wilhelm The Mares at the other side of the waterfall had remained behind to look after the nesting ground. The cavern was large and echoed constantly with the flush of water and the grunts and growls off Mares, their nests stood half a meter tall, built from grass, twig and mud, filled with anything soft and heat retaining they could find, mainly the furs of other animals they had savaged on their hunts.

Theo and Jack moved to the left side of the broad waterfall, Wilhelm and Henderson gathered on the right, peering their heads slowly and silently to gain a better view and count of the enemies, they emerged as silently as they could from the water, the mist caused by the waterfall foaming as it hit the pool masked most of their movements, they formed a firing line on the thin ledge that flanked the pool before the beasts caught their scent above the smell of damp and rotting flesh from their meals. With a mighty roar, the beasts advanced relentlessly when they finally saw the invading humans, and with a deadly hiss, the soldiers fired their suppressed weapons, killing all that was not human. Theo bagged himself seven of the twenty beasts, five more had charged from the other side of the tunnel where they had hidden, guarding the other entrance. “Lieutenant, we have found a nesting ground, confirmed eggs on the ground. We will begin dispersing the gas cylinders.” said Wilhelm into his radio. Lieutenant Jones’ voice came distant and crackly into their ears, “Confirmed. We are near one. We shall release three cylinders each, that should be enough to spread through the entire complex.” Wilhelm, Theo and Jack each held a long fat gas cylinder whilst Henderson covered the exits, and set it down near the nests. Each cylinder contained a highly flammable gas, that would be released remotely once they are out of the cavern. Once they had armed them, they began to make their way back to the junction point where Sergeant Serv was waiting. Serv’s lights could be seen around the corner of the next bend of the cave when Wilhelm suddenly knelt, holding up his fist causing the squad to halt and kneel. The low growl sent chills down their spines. Henderson was the first to see the sharp teeth, as they snapped at his neck, killing him. Theo sprayed the remainder of his clip into the snapping, blood stained beast, the long hisses emanating from his suppressed rifle alerted Wilhelm and Jack that had been further in front, they turned and also fired their weapons at the hulking mass that had hidden in a blackened passage that joined with theirs.

The teams met up at Serv’s position where they took Henderson’s ammunition and weapons and medical supplies, said a few words to remember him by, another fallen hero. Making their way back through the long winding corridors of the jagged stone structure underground, they finally made their way into the daylight finding no aggression from any beasts. Carrying Henderson’s dripping body, they laid him on the soft grass just before the tree line they had first fired upon the nest entrance. “Red Sector Zero-One, This is Red Seven-Three, we have placed our gas, we are about to neutralise. Standby for pick up, over.” Jones said into her radio and didn’t wait for a response, nodded at Serv who smiled whilst he pressed a fat red button, within a minute the roar of the fire echoed through the green trees and the ground rumbled as if struck by heavy artillery. Jones was satisfied by the large fire balls that erupted from the many hidden openings of the cliff face as well as the entrance they had just left. “Job well done lads! Let’s go home, first drink is on me, and the second!” said Jones cheerfully. “Red Sector Zero-One, this is Red Seven-Three, we are ready to come home, ETA on the bird? Over.” Jones face fell anxious. “Red Sector Zero-One, are you receiving?” nothing. “Hmm... must be maintenance day... or something.” said Jones trying to hide the anxious look that had fallen upon her leathery face. They had decided to make the journey back to base on foot, they were to follow to same route they came in with.

They walked the many miles back meeting few creatures, hostile or friendly. The quake caused by their gas purge on the nest had scared a lot of them away, as they emerged from the thick ocean of trees, was when Jones saw the multiple pillars of smoke rising into the sky in the direction of Red Sector Zero-One. she tried her radio once more, nothing. Swearing aloud, she urged the soldiers to pick up the pace, their strides quickened and covered more ground as their hearts fell at the sight of the sinister smoke rising over the horizon.

The walls came into sight, Jones viewed their ruined forms through binoculars. She could make out the soldiers posts, unmanned, the gates, unmanned. The east gate, that they had come to was closed there was no way of opening the gate from this side, Jones knew that the Southern gate had the only manual external override, so they made for the south entrance, always keeping a good distance in case of any enemy troops that may take a potshot. The sun had began to descend and the light was fading by the time they set their eyes upon the south gate, the grassy bank that they laid on was slightly damp. Jones looked once more through her binoculars at Red Sector Zero-One, The Southern Gate was also closed, but it did indeed have the manual override switch on the outside pillar, Jones could see no sentries posted on the walls, tried her radio again, nothing. They approached the closed metal gate, only the distant fires beyond the wall could be heard, the smell of burning rubber and wood and many unthinkable things filled their nostrils, the stink was bearable to the veterans of the group, the greener soldiers wretched and coughed at the scents. The manual override switch stood with the left pillar of the gate, dirty and dusty, it had not been used since it was installed, usually, the gate was operated on the other side by the sentries. The light was now almost gone, the group activated their shoulder lights to show their way, Jack pressed some of the buttons on the switch and was glad to find it had power to its system. The gate was soon sliding open, rattling with a metallic clink as it rolled over the dusty ground, Jones leading the group entered the complex and was greeted by a bodiless but bloody battle ground.

“Rules of engagement, fire if fired upon, search for friendlies.” said Lieutenant Jones as she signalled the soldiers to move forward. Theo raised his weapon and moved towards the first building, Jack covering him as he moved, reaching the wall, Jack followed and Theo turned and covered him. “Split in to teams of two, Theo, Jack, you make for the Armoury.” said Jones as she split everybody into small teams. The base had been attacked by an unknown enemy, but they would cover more ground in smaller groups and split up. Jack moved in the direction of the armoury, Theo followed not far behind, they were close, maybe six hundred meters. The floors and building walls of the local structures had scorch marks, stains of blood and bullet holes littering their faces. The Armoury was not in better shape, its walls littered with small holes from the projectiles, blood dried upon dark metal walls, as they came to the door, they saw a shape laying on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. The legs lay protruding from the open door, long, skeletal and pale blue. Theo, breathing heavily, slowly took a closer look, the body was just as skeletal as its legs, laying on its back, its ribs contoured, stretching the skin to almost splitting point three holes had been plunged into its chest, killing shots from a rifle, the head was long and oval. “Pale bastards!” spat Jack as he clicked on his radio, “Lieutenant. We have a body here, we’ve been attacked by Gryph.” Jones did not reply. Theo was knelt by the legs of the corpse, the room it lay into was small, a secondary door was shut that entered the armoury area, he was inspecting the body. Jack impatiently checked his weapon again as he walked towards the sealed door. “Theo, Jack, we have multiple reports of contacts, no weapons, they’re attacking in close quarters. Be advised, keep distance. Have you received any contacts?” came Jones’ ever crackly voice. “No, none yet, just the body of the weird looking Gryph at the armoury.” said Theo as Jack forced the secondary door open. “Bugger me...” he said softly, his voice failing him. Theo looked up to see the armoury room smothered in a shroud of darkness, with dozens of glistening eyes, leering at them both. The hissing cut fear deep into their hearts. “Fire!” screamed Theo as he jumped to Jacks side, squeezing the trigger.

Jones wasted no time finding the command structure in the centre of the complex. The damage was substantial, the walls had been cut to shreds, huge claw cuts split the walls in areas and some walls had holes large enough to walk through, here, she found some bodies of the strange looking Gryph. The corridors had been painted with blood, pieces of red armour could only be distinguished by their slight metal shine through the crimson blood, scattered amongst the rubble and metal walls torn down. The security doors had been ripped from their hinges. Gun shots echoed from above, Private Marrion kept close on her heels as Jones moved quicker to the stairs, climbing over two more bodies of the tanned looking Gryph. Shots echoed again. Rushing down the blood splattered corridor and avoiding the felled bodies, she noted that very few human bodies were present, she took some comfort in this, we had dealt some decent death here she thought to herself. Jones reached the command floor stairs to find over twenty tanned bodies littering the floor and up the stairs. The bodies lay awkwardly on the steps, torn armour littered the floor, Commander Brooms door had been torn apart, much like the lower class security doors on the lower floors. A scream sliced into their ears, a woman’s. Marrion and Jones sprinted to the inner security door of Broom’s office that sat at the bottom of the final stair case. More tanned bodies lay here with one high ranking advisor’s torn corpse. The advanced up the slick stairs to see more human bodies, cut deep was their flesh, blood spray on the glass walls and ceiling. Broom was slumped up against his desk, lifeless and bloody. A dozen officers had been killed about the room, their bodies just as lifeless,. In the far corner Jones heard a strange slicing sound and hissing. Casting her eyes where it was coming from, she spotted the seemingly last remaining creature holding Brooms secretary from the ground, sliding its long sharp claws from her abdomen and greedily licking its talons. Jones and Marrion fired a volley of rounds at the creature, ending its foul existence.

Jones hooked up her radio to the L bracket terminal to broaden her signal, “This is Red Sector Zero-One, is anyone receiving us?” she asked desperately, Broom shuffled slightly with a moan. “Merrion! See to him!” commanded Jones. The Radio in her ear crackled as a response came through. “Red Sector Zero-One, this is The Judgement, what’s going on down there? We have suffered an electrical attack. We have recently just recovered our communications.” came the distant voice. “Red Sector Zero-One is under attack. Broom is severely wounded, he is the only survivor we have found! The compound is breached, unknown casualties” barked Jones into her radio, Broom moaned again, Merrion was talking to him, saying “you look good, Broom, you’ll make it!” over and over again. It was only when Merrion stopped and let out a gasp when Jones realised what was happening. Brooms face had changed colour, his nails had turned into talons with razor sharp claws, his teeth had turned to needles. He was one of them. One of the tanned creatures. The officers bodies they had found in the room were also stirring and letting out little moans. “Merrion, get out. Quietly.” said Jones in a whisper. “Judgement, Red Sector Zero-One. Quarantine the compound and surrounding areas here. Broom is one of them and so are every single one of the soldiers here. We need to stop this spreading. We need to purge it. We are exposed. Over and out.”

Marrion stood by the door anxiously, signalling for Jones to follow, she stepped cautiously over the dead bodies, avoiding the stirring ones. At arms reach from Marrion, Jones let out a deafening roar and fell, kneeling, turning and firing her weapon wildly, shooting the Banshee in the face that had stuck its claw into her lower leg.

Theo had found a rock to hide under, with enough of a cut out beneath its body for him to conceal himself and turn off his shoulder light from the advancing hissing monsters he and Jack had found. Jack, oh Jack! Torn to pieces in front of his eyes. They were so fast, like lightning! Before Theo could only get his third shot out of the barrel of his rifle before he had to flee. With Jack now laying dead over at the armoury, his brown eyes wide open, dead and motionless, staring straight at his severed arm that twitched in its own pool of blood. Theo wedged himself in further, to avoid detection. When the hissing died down, he dared to slowly stick his head out, seeing the area was seemingly clear, distant gunshots had attracted the creatures elsewhere. Theo pulled himself out as slow and as quietly as his body would allow. Checking his rifle to find it was empty, with a heavy sigh, he placed it around his shoulder and secured it, pulled out his pistol, found he only had a single clip. Twelve bullets. Theo swore to himself. They certainly would not last very long. He knew, to survive, he will need stealth, the darkness would have to be his ally.

The day had darkened and turned to night quicker than expected, shadows surrounded Theo and that side of the planet. “Lieutenant Jones, come in. it’s Theo, are you there?” he whispered into his radio and was met only by static, swearing once more, he cursed the planet. He silently stalked down the dark alleyway he had chosen to be his first ally of darkness, barely able to see the floor, he stepped forward in to a few objects on the floor that squished with a repugnant stench under his boots, he was instantly glad of the darkness, “It’s just... poo Theo... yeah... just dog poo, you’ll have to wipe it off later, before Lieutenant kills you for it” he muttered to himself with his voice faltering, almost to a squeak. There were no doors or windows down this thin passage, just a simple wire metal fence with a small single gate in the centre, Theo’s worry was that it was padlocked and that he couldn’t climb over the barbed wire top and would have to walk back through the squishy alleyway. He quickly flashed his shoulder light onto the gate, his luck had changed slightly, it was chained, but the chain was not locked, he unravelled the metal binding as quietly as he could. The gate however, wanted to scream with complaints as he forced it open slowly. Now the whole sector knew he was there. Once the complaining of the gate ceased, Theo listened, full of fear, nothing. Just the sounds of the planet, birds of prey, calling and killing, the swaying of the trees in the distance, the whistle of the wind and the blowing of the dusty ground. Theo started making his way towards the south entrance once more, if he could get atop the wall, he would have a vantage point, capable of seeing distance on all sides, allowing him to have a better advantage than just a few meters in the street, behind the next corner or shadowy doorway leading into the alley. Theo’s radio crackled, “Theo, it’s Merrion, are you still there?” came the panicked voice. Theo answered his comrade. “Jone’s is down, she’s bleeding out, one of those things got her!” cried Merrion, Theo swore to himself, cursing the creatures. “Calm down Merrion, where are you?” asked Theo trying to keep his voice calm, Merrion told him that they were still in the command tower, on the floor below Broom’s office, Merrion had barricaded himself and Jones in one of the canteen rooms, “Mate, I think Jones ordered an Air Strike on Red Sector Zero-One...” said Merrion sobbing, it was clear he had lost all hope. Theo heard gunshots over is radio, “Merrion? Merrion! What’s happening?” just then, Theo noticed the whistling of the wind, had subtly stopped and been replaced with a soft hissing and sniffing, Theo saw four orbs further down the alley, the creatures eyes catching the light made them glow unnaturally. “Merrion, if you’re alive, please be alive! I’m heading for the south gate and just beyond, in to the tree line, two hours from now, I will be heading for the small village, three miles East, I hope you meet me at the tree line!” said Theo quietly into his radio before backing off in the opposite direction of the leering eyes. The southern gate of the complex was not far, he could run there in ten minutes if he managed to avoid detection.

Winslow had heard of the quarantine order and quickly taken command of the Judgement, “Where the hell have you been!” boomed Captain Errol when he showed his sunken ghoul face in the light of the bridge, and Winslow simply smiled smugly and gave no answer. The bridge had a soft mist all around the room, fire extinguishers had been distributed to every other officer, a lot of the electrics had malfunctioned and started fires, but had been hastily put out, and replaced. The Bridge, now mostly operational had found no structural damage, the only casualties had been abrasions and cuts from crew members falling with the shaking ship. Winslow sat upon Errols chair in great satisfaction and Errol went red faced when he saw, “Now, commander, I expect the air strike to be under way immediately.” said Winslow gleefully, hardly able to contain his excitement. Errol stood aghast. “What? Air strike! Are you mad?” spat Errol and Winslow smiled once more, “Commander, ready the air strike and destroy that pathetic camp down there like a good boy, and you might even get a sweetie.” Errol exploded “It’s Captain to you, Captain!”and I command this vessel, not some slimy punk egotistical arse!” the bridge crew slowed in the jobs they had been doing to listen, some had even turned around to witness the confrontation, Winslow cast his cold eyes upon Errol with a serpents smile that had its prey exactly where it wanted it, as Errol approached the gaunt featured man that sat in his chair. “I know you copied the Evergreen’s Last Resort Weapon blueprints, but to what end I do not know!” whispered Errol, loud enough for the Officer closest, a hard faced, tattooed woman overheard, she called Winslow an unmentionable name and drew her weapon, it was clear her loyalties lay with Errol and not him, Winslow, unable to contain his glee much more laughed like a child playing with his toys, “Now, Now Commander Errol, come now, control your lowers.” giggled Winslow, “Now, be a good boy, or I shall do to you, what I did to the good Doctor Frederick..” he gestured to Errol a finger across his throat as he jumped to his dancing feet. That was his final mistake, and final command. Errol raised his own pistol and placed the cold muzzle against Winslow’s smug forehead, “It’s Captain.” said Errol softly and with a squeeze of the trigger, and a flash of the muzzle, he shot Winslow in the face. “Bollocks” sighed Errol, “Now my chair is ruined!” Sitting on the floor, he ordered someone to dispose of Winslows bloodied corpse in the airlock, Errol unloaded his pistol and holstered it. The Bridge was silent for a long while. Some officers had drawn their own weapons in the confrontation, now nervously placed it back in its holster, knowing the danger was over, but not understanding what had just happened and why.

After a long silence, Errol ordered constant contact to be regained between The Judgement and their two ships in high orbit and also to contact soldiers on the ground, obtain numbers on losses and survivors, locate them and extract if possible. “Sir, we cannot contact any of ours on the ground, we have put on a repeating message on our global frequency to make way to the Gryph fortification of Forgod to the north, we have contacted the Gryph ship near by, they will be happy to receive all, if any, but they want to know what happened...” said the chief coms officer. Errol bowed his head in deep thought, he had just executed a murderer and traitor, but he was also an Imperial High Advisor. How would he handle this when the report came through? Not getting executed was the best outcome. Errol noted down everything and collected the evidence he had obtained against Winslow secretly whilst Winslow had been controlling his ship, he was proud at how clever and sneaky he had been about getting the evidence against the traitor. He would report everything to Kyril of The Evergreen before anything else. He ordered the information sent to The Evergreen for the attention of Kyril to be sent immediately.