Age of Lies (Original Version)

Chapter 6

A minute later the marine supply officer came back with a gun case. Quincy who had taken some interest in the recent conversation came up to view what was happening from a distance.

"Alright. I got all the stuff you requested. She's clean and ready to go," said the man as he placed the case on the table.

Markelium walked over to the case and opened the metallic clips that help it together. The gun came into sight as the lid was lifted and Quincy was slightly awestruck. Inside the case was a gun he had never seen before. It had dark grey metallic highlights against a white body with blue indicator lights. The scope was a small square screen about six inches long. However, Quincy did not get to study it in detail because at that moment Markelium picked up the gun and checked it, tweaking the settings to his liking. He quickly mounted the scope and grip, and then pulled out a pair of glasses that Quincy had failed to notice. "What are those for?" he asked in a curious voice.

"These glasses link to the gun to give me an ammo count, enemy targeting and a few other things. This gun is . . . special." said Markelium with a hint of sadness.

Quincy left it at that and continued to marvel at the weapon while Markelium finished putting it together.

"Alright let's go Quincy. We have a ride to catch," said Markelium as he headed off to the boarding ship whose engines began to whine as they powered up.

As they headed over to their bird, the ship-wide intercom came alive. "T-minus five minutes to reentry into normal space. I repeat T-minus five minutes to reentry into normal space."

Markelium put on his gear while leaving his air tight helmet off. Quincy followed suit and they found themselves a seat near the front of the Telgardi TT-201, or "big bird" as the navy liked to call them. The pilot began closing the ramp doors after the final marines and their gear was loaded up, making the ship ready to go. A moment later they felt the Prince exit into real-space.

A minute later after the bridge confirmed the position and general state of the ship, the two dropships lifted out of the bay and into the black and made their way towards the vessel sending the S.O.S.

Inside the dropship a monitor came to life, showing a small transport ship with visible damage to the hull and engines. Captain Travis spoke over the video, "This is our target. Looks like it may have been attacked, so stay on high alert inside. We will secure the bay once we land and work our way from there. Stay in your assigned teams and remember your training. We will land shortly, so get your suits ready for null space. Now let's get to work boys and girls."

"OOH RAA!" cried the marines as they donned the last bit of their gear for the landing. Markelium and Quincy stayed quiet throughout the process and put on their helmets and checked the seals. Moments later the pilot called out, "Landing in sixty. Make sure you're sealed tight."

Markelium held his gear between his feet while Quincy just kind of held everything best he could. Moments later they felt the dropship land and the ramp began to lower.

The marines raced out to set up their perimeter and Captain Travis could be heard roaring instructions through the suits' intercoms.

As this was accomplished, Captain Travis called for squad leaders to gather up. "Alright Parker, take your squad and secure the engine room. Myra, take your squad and secure the bridge. Luke. Ryan. You will guard the bay here. Everyone else search the ship. There may be friendlies or hostiles aboard. So check your fire. NOW MOVE OUT!"

"SIR YES SIR!" they called out, as they saluted. They then turned around and called out orders to each of their squads and began to move out.

"Well let's tag along with Myra and her squad. We should head to the bridge first and run a diagnostic if we can, and report it back to Captain Kelly. "Sounds good to me," replied Quincy. They grabbed their gear and headed off to tag with Myra and her squad.

The ship creaked and groaned eerily as Markelium, Quincy, Myra and her squad made their way aft to the bridge. Burn marks and holes filled their view as they moved down the central corridors. Minutes later they finally reached the bridge security doors.

"Well . . . This doesn't look good." said Quincy.