[Atrocities]

Part XVI Buried Alive

Trax waited patiently in his hiding spot, his OMN off until the time was right. The humans had just cleared the Last of the ice from the hull of the object. Trax knew it was a space ship, most likely one of the many ships that had attempted to land on the planet over the millennia but were repulsed or destroyed by the old orbital defense of this planet. Trax never believed that the Human could have ever had the technology to build such devices let alone travel the stars, but something, something deep within him told him that there was more to the universe than he could possibly believe.

Trax could not explain it, but something deep inside of him believed in something that was much more than mere word could ever possibly explain. A force of life, a sensation of nature, or even perhaps the universe it’s self, a being or substance that was far more than flesh and bone. Trax did not understand why he believed in this, he only knew that he did. The humans call this thing God, but Trax felt that it was far more than what the humans had come to believe it to be. Some how the word God paled in its descriptive ability at describing what it was that Trax had been touched by.

As he activated his OMN, Trax could not help but reflect back upon the day that he was touched. Prior to that day he could kill without regret, without concern, and without guilt, but now, after that day, he knew to kill a living being was evil act that that brought pain and sufforing to all. He now felt anguish over having to take a life, he never felt that prior to his day of enlightenment, but now, now he knew taking a life was an indeed a truly evil act, an act that was both as wrong and as in moral as any act that could ever be committed by a living being against another.

Trax truly hated having to kill, especially now that he knew it was wrong, but he was what he was engineer to be, a cold-blooded killing machine, and nothing, not even the will of God himself could ever reverse the horror that he has caused, or will continue causing. All he could do now, when forced to kill, was to make it as painless as possible for his victim, and hope that when his time came, God would have mercy upon his sole.

With deliberate will of force Trax, hidden by the cloud of his Optical Masking Net, (OMN) moved slowly toward the two men standing near the entrance of the tunnel that lead to the surface. He had drawn his Taber, a doubled sided blade of polished dorinium with a dark Decka wood handle, and had crept up to the first man. With out pausing he sliced the blade of his Taber through the mans neck severing his arteries, bone, muscle, and flesh from the mans right ear all the way over to the left ear. The cut took only a millisecond to perform, and the man never cried out. His hands never made it to the lethal wound, as he was dead before his mind could grasp the horror of the situation. The poison on his blade saw to that. The second man, having just been hit by the spray of the dead mans blood as it pulsated out of his neck wound in several great streamers of crimson, which faded in seconds as the mans heart stop beating, turned and before he could control himself, let out a blood curdling scream that was heard for miles.

Sergeant Ruddy Arnold had seen his share of death but nothing in his life had ever prepared him to for this. The sudden shock of seeing a man die only seconds after having talked to him was more than his mind was prepared comprehend. He had screamed before he realized he had done it. By instinct alone he had raised his pulse rifle in a split second, clicked off the safety and squeezed the trigger. The pulse rifle, utilizing a compressed pulse antium coil, erupted into action firing twenty round pulses per second of positively charged depleted uranium 980 pellets. The effect of which instantly shattered the surrounding ice along the walls of the tunnel like glass. Ruddy fired the rifle at first blindly in all directions, then slowly gaining control of his fear and allowed his military training to take effect, began to control the direction of his fire. He held his fire and swept the tunnel from side to side while looking down the sights of the rifle. His COM chirped once then twice again before he felt secure enough to respond.
“What in the hell is going on?” Yelled a voice. Ruddy did not at first recognize it, but as his heartbeat slowed and his mind began to clear, he replied.
“PFC Ledie is dead.”
“Ruddy this is Tom, what in the hell is going on? Why are firing?”
Ruddy continued to scan the hall as he slowly backed his way out toward the surface. He could hear other soldiers coming up behind him as their feet compressed the snow.
“I say again, something just killed PFC Ledie.”

Tom and the others had heard the scream then the gunfire and had all taken cover. Tom knew that Ruddy Arnold was not a man easily frightened, and if he was firing his rifle, then it was to save his own ***.
“Sergeant, what is your situation?” Tom asked in an official tone of voice trying to get Arnold to respond with more information.
“I am working my way out of the entrance tunnel, something killed PFC Ledie, slit his throat while he was standing right next to me.”
“Did you hit it?” Captain O’Connor asked over the COM.
Tom had not yet dismissed the Captain as he had just returned to the excavation site when the scream and shots rang out.
“I don’t know sir, I am shooting up the tunnel pretty good though, and I can’t imagine anything surviving it.”
“Sergeant ceases your fire. We are sending in reinforcements.” Yelled O’Connor into his COM as he gave a gesturing order to two armed troopers to head out.
“I think I got it.” Replied Arnold as he held his fire and swept the ice corridor from side to side with the muzzle of his pulse rifle. Two troopers came down the corridor from the main chamber heading toward him, and another two came up behind him, guns ready, but nothing to shoot.

The diVersion had worked perfectly and Trax was well clear of the entrance shaft a good millisecond before the surviving trooper opened fire. As the drama played out, Trax made his way toward the main chamber and the exposed bulkhead of the alien ship.

The humans were all hiding or attempting to do so as Trax slowly made his way through them. By the time he reached the bulkhead several of the armed humans had already left the chamber no doubt on their way to assist their comrade in arms. Trax smiled to himself, rather astonished at how well his diVersion had worked. In the hours before the humans resumed excavating the ice chamber, just to be on the safe side in the event that he had he been discovered, Trax had taken the precaution of planting a few Micro Taterium Explosives (MTE), in various locations of the tunnel and could have detonated them cutting the chamber off from the outside. The few humans that would have been left in this chamber, cut off from reinforcements, would have posed no problem for him. But as it now stood, he had gained access to the object without interference, and would most likely not need the MTE’s. He had long since learned the lesson that it was better to keep them active then to deactivate them therefore he did not deactivate prior to morphing through the hull of the ship.

Tom was standing with Colonel Rogers and Carl Wilhelm when Sergeant Harris and Captain O’Connor escorted Sergeant Arnold into the main chamber. Tom could tell instantly that whatever had happened, it had had a profound impact upon Arnold for he was as pale as the snow out side.
“Whoever it was knew what they were doing.” Commented Captain O’Connor. “It was a clean kill.”
“Ruddy, what happened?” Asked Tom.
“I don’t know General, Ledie and I were just shooting the fodder about nothing in particular when he stopped talking. It was just then I felt something warm hit me and I knew instantly that it was blood, but I had no idea.” He paused and just looked blankly at Tom.
“Now idea about what?” Tom asked him.
“No idea that man could be killed so quickly.” The look he gave Tom would forever haunt Tom’s dreams. It was a look that Tom had never seen before, one that he prayed to god he would never have to see again, the look of absolute fear.
“Carl I want you to take Arnold top side and see to him.”
“Yes General.” Carl voice was sincere. He stepped forward and took Arnold by the arm. “Come on Ground Pounder, let’s go get you something warm to drink.”
Tom had never considered, not even for a second that Carl had reformed, but after seeing this display, Tom had no doubts that Carl Wilhelm had indeed changed.

For the next hour and a half Colonel Rogers, assisted by Nina Smith worked on deciphering the alien language. Nina Smith first course of study was in language and mathematics, and was proving to be invaluable. Colonel Rogers had expressed privately to Tom that she was impressed with Nina’s skill and that with her help they should be able to decipher the alien language sooner than she had hoped for.

Tom had decided to hold off on having Sergeant Harris and Captain O’Connor relieved of duty in light of what had happened earlier. It was now clear to everyone that they did indeed have an un-wanted visitor. Who he, or she was Tom did not know, but one thing was for certain, whoever it was, was one highly trained individual. So far no one left alive had seen the intruder, there was no evidence to account for his presence that is except for the death toll, which now stood at five.

The main chamber had been scanned with a bio scanner, and aside from Tom, Colonel Rogers, Nina Smith, and a few armed guards, everyone else was either confined to the mess tent, aside from those operating the command, operations, and communication tent, or were out looking for the intruder. Obviously whomever it was had to have escaped out of the ice tunnels to the surface for no man could have survived the firestorm that Sergeant Arnold had unleashed into that ice corridor. Tom knew this, but something inside of him, deep down was driving him mad. Arnold did not see who killed the PFC, nor were there any footprints or any other signs that would indicate that any one other than the PFC and Ruddy were in that corridor at the time the PFC was killed. That left only two possibilities, Ruddy killed the PFC and was using this story to cover it up, or he was telling the truth in which case that meant that the attacker, ‘no’ assassin could not be seen.
Tom drew in his breath at that thought. He knew that Ruddy was telling the truth, for he had heard rumors about an elite assassins guild that had the ability to mask or otherwise hide their appeared. A rumor that Tom would have cast off as utter Dayton fodder if not for actually having seen one. It was on the Bridge of the Tempest, right before he killed that vol Devon Gore, that he, just for a second, off to one side, caught a glimpse of something moving. It was not a solid object it appeared to be more or less like a mirror being moved slowly through a room. Its reflection bending the light and objects it passed as it slowly traversed it course through the Tempests Bridge. It had vanished the instant he took notice of it, leaving him with the sensation that often has been describe as having been bushed by a ghost. A truly evil and dark feeling that send shivers up your spine generating goose pimples and razing the hairs on the back of your neck. Ever since then Tom could not sake the feeling that he was being watched.

Doctor Mentor and Doctor Ramzies had left the chamber to get something to eat in the mess tent, leaving no one in the chamber to monitor the seismic monitoring device. At first Tom felt what he could only describe as a wavy feeling passing under his feet, a quick glace at the others in the chamber confirmed that what he had experienced was not a solitary sensation. They all had felt it. Without being prompted Nina Smith moved over to the monitoring equipment and within a second gasped. She moved her hand to her mouth and looked up at Tom and then the others with a stunned expression on her face.
“The ship has begun generating heat.”
Everyone moved, except for Tom and the two troopers, one of which was Sergeant Harris, over to look at the monitors. Tom looked around the chamber and noticed that the ice was beginning to melt.
“Everyone out of here now!” He ordered.
Colonel Rogers, the two engineers from the GEC, sprinted toward the chamber exist and the long corridor that lead to an even longer corridor that lead to the surface.

Nina Smith started to grab equipment when Tom yelled at her. “Get out of here now, that is an order!”
The others had cleared the entrance to the chamber when the ground began to sake violently throwing Tom, Nina, and the two troopers to the ground. The seismic event continued for several seconds before calming down. Tom had barely begun to stand when the first explosion occurred. The walls and ceiling of the main chamber entrance collapsed filling the main chamber with ice particles and plunging the room into nearly absolute darkness.

It took several seconds before Tom’s eyes could adjust to the lowered light level. There was enough light penetrating down through the ice above them to give the chamber a soft eerie blue glow. There was not a lot of light, but enough to allow them to see. Just then a light beacon was turned on. Tom looked over at it as several chemical lights were activated and tossed out into the center of the chamber brightening up the area to an almost normal light level.
“PFC Hamlin is dead sir.” Reported Sergeant Harris.
“Nina are you alright?” Tom asked before he realized he had.
There was a cough or two before she answered. “I am fine. What in the hell just happened?”
“Good question. Sergeant, check your COM.”
Without replying Harris activated his COM and spoke into it.
“This is Sergeant Harris to command and operations, do you copy?”
There was not answer at first so he repeated his hail. This time a reply came through.
“Harris this is Lieutenant Winston what is your situation?”
Harris handed his COM over to Tom who spoke into it.
“Lieutenant, this is General Christopher, there has been an explosion in the one of the corridors and we are trapped in the main chamber.”
“Understood General.”
“Did any of the others make it out?”
“Colonel Rogers and the two GEC engineers made it out sir. They are shaken up a bit though, and have minor injuries. Nothing that a few liquid bandages can’t take care of. What is your situation?”
Tom looked around the chamber taking in the situation. “One down, PFC Hamlin, the rest of use, Nina Smith, and Sergeant Harris are well.”
“General this is Captain O’Connor, can you tell me what caused the corridor to collapse?”
Tom looked over at Nina then to Harris who was studying the ice at what had once been an eight-foot high by six-foot entrance into the chamber.

“An explosive device.”
“Colonel Rogers is telling me now that the ship is also generating heat and we all have felt the seismic activity.”
“Affirmative.” Replied Tom.
“I will have a team start digging you all out momentarily Doctor Mentor is alarmed by the seismic activity and wants to do a quick scan of the ice to determine if he can safely excavate the area. He also wants to see if he can determine what caused these seismic events, and if we can expect more.”
“Tell him to hurry Captain, the ice down here is melting rather rapidly as the temperature continues to rise.”
“General, what is the ambient temperature at this moment?” It was Doctor Ramzies asking the question.
“Bill I’d say it’s about a degree or two above freezing and getting warmer.”
“Ok General, we are going to start digging you out now. We can’t afford to wait for Doctor Mentors results.”
Tom looked at both Nina and Harris and could see that both of them wanted the hell out.
“Make it quick Captain. Being buried alive is not how I invisioned I would be spending the day.”

[ May 25, 2003, 15:28: Message edited by: Atrocities ]