Transient Signal

Chapter Ten: Revelation

CCSV Scholar

Main corridor, just beyond Engineering

"Sarge," said Burns breathlessly, "what's going on?"

Jack did not slow his pace as he answered. "Now isn't the time. We need to get back to the bridge."

The ship's intercom system was still active as they ran down the hall. Captain Miller was still sobbing into it as Nishi could be heard in the background making extremely disturbing reassurances.

"Blood and fire will be a good reminder, Captain. What you are doing is right. You will be remembered as the one who set humanity right."

"Sergeant..." said Williamson, sounding very shaken.

"Ignore it," ordered Jack, trying to not dwell on the consequences of what Nishi was implying. "We have to keep going."

The Captain continued to sob as they ran on. Jack also noticed that despite running as fast as they possibly could, the creature had outrun them, and he could only barely hear the clanking of its claws in the ventilation shaft.

Eventually, he could not hear it at all. The creature was easily almost at the bridge by now, and this was confirmed when Sergeant Zed came over the COMs.

"Helios 2, 1-1 Bravo. We're in contact with the alien creature." Jack could hear the troopers in 2 Section firing their weapons over the COMs, meaning that creature must have dropped right on top of them. "We need assistance ASAP. Over."

"1-1 Bravo, Helios 2. We're almost to your position. Just hold on a few minutes. Over."

"1-1 Bravo, roger. Out."

"Fuck that thing is fast," commented Singh.

"Sarge, how are we going to kill that thing?" asked Burns.

Jack thought about that for a moment. Single shots did not seem to do anything but piss the thing off. Singh's shotgun blast took it down for a bit, but no more than a few seconds. Maybe if it took more damage than its cells could regenerate it might finally be taken down.

"Explosives maybe," answered Jack. "But that could just as quickly kill us. We need something that can damage it enough to stop cellular regeneration."

"Well, Sergeant...Raj may have just the thing," declared Williamson.

Jack slowed down and finally came to a stop. He turned and faced Singh and Williamson, with Burns staying next to him.

"This had better be quick. What is it?" asked Jack.

Singh reached into his ammo pouch and pulled out a pair of green bodied 12-gauge shotgun shells.

"Last op I was on, I was given several of these to test Sergeant," explained Singh. "It was on Gary's Moon, where the jungles were so thick we couldn't even cut our way out with machetes. They're venom shells."

"Venom shells?" asked Jack. He had never heard of those before, but they sounded like some kind of prototype munitions. Military Research and Development tended to play those kinds of things very close to the chest; only giving them to individuals to field test in almost total secrecy.

"Yes Sergeant," said Singh. "Each one contains a vial of a top secret chemical cocktail that reacts with the air to become a highly corrosive acid. I used a few of them to burn my way through the jungle. After the op, I had a few left over and Sergeant Zed told me to keep them in case we needed them again."

"And you think these will work against that thing?"

"Yes I do, Sergeant," responded Singh.

"Alright, we'll give them a shot," declared Jack, "how many do you have?"

"I have a total of six Sergeant, including these two," said Singh.

"Okay Singh, make them count," remarked Jack. "Let's get going."

Jack and the others resumed running until they came upon the slight bend that was just before the bridge. Jack pressed himself up against the wall, and looked around the bend.

There were four bodies outside of the bridge door. All of them were cut into various pieces, blood splattered on the deck and walls. The creature was there, trying to rip into a side room that Jack recognized as one of the entrances to medical. Good, it's distracted he thought before motioning for Singh to come over to where he was.

"Take that fucker out," Jack said as Singh loaded three venom shells into his shotgun. He swung around the corner and opened fire three times. There was a moment where Jack heard nothing, but soon he heard the audible hissing sound of the acid burning through the biological material the creature was made of. Then came a blood curdling scream. Jack stuck his head around the corner and saw the creature thrashing about as tendrils of steam curled off of its body. It flailed about wildly until finally falling to the deck in a rapidly dissolving heap.

Jack indicated for Singh to follow him, and they both walked towards the pile of dissolved matter that once was the creature. They kept their weapons pointed at it until they could clearly tell that the creature was dead. Jack activated his channel with 1-1 Bravo.

"1-1 Bravo, Helios 2. Coast is clear. Out."

The door to medical opened and the surviving members of 2 Section, along with the remnants of 1 Section came out.

"Thanks for the assist, Jack," said Sergeant Zed as he came out. Him and Jack shook hands.

"No problem, Wes," replied Jack. "How's Zaidan?"

Zed looked down at the deck for a moment. "He died, shortly before that thing attacked us."

"Fuck," muttered Jack. He looked and saw that Corporal O'Brien was among the four dead bodies. "Looks like it's you, me and Vine now."

"At least the Captain has taken his hand off of the transmitter," said Zed. Jack did notice that the intercom was no longer on. Whether that was good or bad, he was not sure.

"Let's get onto the bridge and find out what the fuck is going on," Jack declared. "Everyone get ready."

What was left of the platoon took positions near the door to the bridge. Zed and Jack walked up to the keypad on the centre of the door. Jack punched in the access code for it and was rewarded with a hiss as the heavy pneumatic door opened. The door was opened just enough that Jack could start to see what was insider when suddenly there was the sound of a single gunshot and Zed's throat exploded into a fountain of red gore.

Jack swore and threw himself to the left side of the door. Jack saw with horror as three more commandos, including Singh and Williamson, went down; their bodies riddled with bullets. Bullets passed by within hair breadths of where he was-a few even smacked off the frame he took cover behind. Exhaling sharply, Jack swung his body around the corner and fired off two double taps. The four bullets hit their target by the time Jack's brain finally registered his target

It was Captain Miller standing in the middle of the bridge, his rifle up in his shoulder, firing away.

Two of the shots hit him in the side, right under his armpit where the body armour he had did not touch. Miller fell over next to a console in a lifeless heap. Trying not to think about just having to kill the officer in charge of the platoon, Jack took survey of the bridge. He saw that the Quarter-Master Sergeant, Sergeant Willis, and his assistant, Corporal Jackson Graham, were both lying dead. They had been shot through the head. The civilians that had been sent to the bridge were dead as well, their throats all slashed opened.

All except one.

All except the person now holding, what Jack recognized as, the detonator for the tactical nukes secretly brought onboard the Morrison that Captain Miller had brought with them when they boarded.

Hitomi Nishi.