Present Day
Grown men cried when the storm finally broke.
It started with a few trickles of light, a break in the clouds. Rays of white seeped through the cloud cover as it began to thin, little beams of illumination streaking across the sky and shining on the grimy, disheveled faces of the warriors below. The heavens moved from a midnight black to a dark slate, then finally to a lighter gray as the rain turned from a downpour to a shower and finally a drizzle. They could finally see the world around them with clear vision, with no mystery predator in sight. As long as they’d stuck together and remained unmoving, they’d gone unmolested.
The end of the storm combined with the absence of a shadowy monstrosity in sight sent a shudder of relief through the whole of the camp. A few cried literal tears, though they surreptitiously wiped them away before the others could see. All the Pioneers silently thanked whatever divinities they believed in that they had been trained for similar circumstances. Without all those training exercises in the rain, they would have surely been broken by the task of holding their guard in the middle of the storm for days on end. Daniel hadn’t been raised with any particular religion, but he knew that the old man had believed in God. He’d seen Grandpa Roger mutter a prayer every now and then, and Daniel did so now, softly saying a small prayer of thanksgiving for anyone who might be listening.
The Pioneers huddled together like that for another few hours until Sergeant Gulliman spoke up: “Men, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I got in touch with Command after Johnson disappeared. I explained our heavy casualties to them, as well as our finding of the Briconium deposit and our measurements of its dimensions. After some negotiating, I managed to get them to use the deposit value info to reduce our Quota by 500 thousand. Check your status.”
Value of Group Storage:
428,644 Credits
…
Group Size: 10/20
Group Quota: 1,257,788 Credits {Less Recovered/Credited Val} (NOT MET)
Personal Quota: 125,779 (NOT MET)
“Downside of that is no commission on the info, but the info’s value was 300K. Doing it this way means that our Quota is more manageable, and we get a bonus of 200K for using it as a credit. Clear?”
They all nodded, and he continued: “The other downside of that is that Command demands more info. We need to go back to the river and gather more samples to make the credit stick. Specifically, we need to go forty klicks north of our original base camp. We can keep the value of the samples.”
That sent a murmur throughout the group. They would need to leave the safety of the pods and venture out into the wilds again, even with the unknown predator still possibly out there. As if reading their minds, the sergeant continued: “Well, we’ll need to leave the camp eventually, anyways. We’re still well below Quota. May as well go gather samples by the beach. After all this time, whatever got the other three is probably gone.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Daniel noticed a very slight note of concern in the sergeant’s as he finished that sentence, as if he were also trying to convince himself as well as everyone else. For such a powerful warrior, he struck Daniel as a bit of a coward, but then again, who was he to judge? Daniel was plenty terrified as well. That said, Daniel had a question of his own: “What about the inventory values of the other three, sir? I don’t see a recoverable amount for them.”
He definitely wasn’t looking to go find whatever took the others away, but it was strange that the values weren’t on his HUD. The sergeant just shook his head in response: “Don’t they teach you recruits anything? Some Xenomorphs can destroy a Codex. The dimensional storage space of a Codex collapses when its destroyed, eradicating anything inside as well. Creature must have shattered theirs.”
Now that he mentioned it, Daniel remembered hearing something like that. But there was one problem. Xenos ranked Epsilon or below weren’t supposed to be capable of that.
The sergeant seemed to gloss over that fact neatly, handwaving it away before ordering everyone into formation. The Pioneers were still a bit nervous as they made the hike back to their original location, but the lack of recent attacks had taken the edge off everyone’s worry. Still, the sergeant kept them all vigilant and in a ready formation as they made their way back to the beach. They were in much better physical shape than last time, so they managed the 40 klick hike in less than 4 hours, even moving cautiously. Daniel marveled at the strength in his limbs as he strode confidently over fallen tree limbs and through most other obstacles, no longer held back by gale force winds. He’d have to get more of that Sparkhoof meat.
Still, the sun was setting by the time they got to their original base camp, the still-overcast sky obstructing the light of an otherwise pleasant sunset. There was no way the Pioneers were planning to operate at night, so they planned out their watch and set up camp yet again. Daniel noticed that the sergeant still refused to go to bed, the large man sitting on a fallen tree stump and staring off into the night. What the younger man didn’t see were the small bags that had begun to form under the sergeant’s eyes as he held yet another evening vigil.
…
The predator watched as its prey finally exited the relative safety of its grey shelter and marched back toward the river. A frontal assault was certainly possible, though not a sure thing. Their guardian remained consistently vigilant at all hours of the day. It was the only thing the predator was concerned about, so the hunter continued to circle the group, watching diligently for an opening. It was confident that its prey couldn’t keep up this level of preparedness for long.
However, as it did, the predator ran into a small group of lesser prey, three other bipedal hairy ones. It tore into them with a natural ferocity, claws ripping through flesh as it removed the additional obstacle. As it prepared to move on, however, it stopped, then looked around. The predator stared at the corpses of the hairy ones, then reached out with its enhanced senses, finding small packs of other such prey nearby.
Then, it got an idea.
Bounding through the forest, it came upon another group, this time a group of four warriors and their three offspring. It slaughtered the offspring and two of the warriors. Once the other two realized that they were outmatched, they threw themselves prostrate and waited for death. When that death didn’t come, the duo peeked up from the ground at the predator who was standing over them and simply staring. They drew themselves back to their feet, not even daring to look their better in the eye. But when it bounded off into the forest, in search of their fellows, the duo followed obediently, shivering slightly in terror.
…
“Local Time is: 5:30. Approximately 69 Imperium Standard Days remain for your mission.”
The Pioneers were up bright and early the next day, switching off their alarms and moving with efficiency as they packed up and moved out. The storm had churned up the riverbank, unearthing more Briconium that had laid deeper underground. The Pioneers had four total men watching while the other six gathered, but they still gathered large quantities of samples as they made their way north. As they moved, Daniel remembered the underground cave he’d discovered all those weeks ago. He hadn’t gotten the chance to investigate it, and he certainly couldn’t do so now, so he put the thought aside as they continued their journey. Separating from the group now was practically begging for death.
The sun was still obscured by clouds, and it had begun to shower again, but it was no real impediment to their movement as the Pioneers continued northward. Daniel was almost giddy at all the valuables that they were finding along the way. At this rate, they would be able to make Quota no problem, even with all the losses and the setbacks.
“Halt!”, Gulliman called out, stopping the men in their tracks. The sergeant had stood up straight and begun to scan the tree line. The other men did the same, looking around in sudden fear at the startling call of their commanding officer: “FORM RANKS! WE HAVE INCOMING!”
Daniel’s heart sank and he cursed his luck as the Pioneers followed orders and got into formation. Gulliman was at the head of their triangle formation, and Daniel was grateful to hear the metaphysical thrumming sound of his shield manifesting in the air above them. Still, his blood ran cold as he noticed a few yellow eyes, blinking in the shade of the forest. The rain picked up, and the first peal of thunder overhead synchronized with the first of the Diaboco war calls.
Patreon Link
