Delta Base 0956 [FT RP]

Ghost carefully moved towards the Dotarian. He had seen this many times before. Ghost crouched down next to the man and removed his own helmet, unsealing it with a hiss. "You need to take a deep breath and relax, you are in shock." Ghost said in a calming voice "Don't try to remember, just relax." He didn't know if it was working but he hoped it would.

Facial features:

He knew what they were thinking, that the Dotarian could turn on them at any moment, and he would probably kill a couple before they could restrain him.

He pointed his sword at them, "I am a Dotarian Vanguard Knight. I am Jason Heckliir, Commander of the Rysedeiniik of Ryse Hunter I Mathias, and one of the greatest of his champions. I demand to stay with this man so I know he is alright, then I'll calm down. I'll help him myself, just point me the way to the infirmary."

//Also, Jason is very tall as all Dotarians are. The shortest Adult Dotarians are around 6 1/2 to 7 feet tall, and can reach upwards of 10 to 12 feet tall.//

Marcus was sick of this shit. He had met Dotarians before, always parading around. This was a delta base, there were no superiors. Your past didnt earn you anything. Marcus spoke in a strained voice,

"Listen up arsehole. I dont give a shit who you are. Until we say otherwise you are a hostile on this ship. You dont get a choice of if you stay with this man. Now. Follow me. "

Jason turned on Marcus after gently laying Adam down on a stretcher brought out by droids, his sword still drawn, "I don't care who the hell you are Ibsenian, NEVER speak to me like that again. You may be the commander here, but I distinctly remember Ibsenians killing 4 of my greatest friends in an assassination attempt on my Ryse during your Civil War that WE ended. I ought on your front lines and watched my people bleed for you to stand here and insult me so. Rectify your tone or I will bleed you dry!" With that, Jason ejected another sword and stood his ground.

He could feel all of the crosshairs from droids and Marcus's men land on him, waiting an order to fire on the Dotarian. He looked around and thought, "Well, at least the odds are somewhat fair for them."

A flashback to the van when his friends were killed then came to him. He was sitting next to his Ryse, awaiting to escort him to the Vernian leaders to put an end to the Civil War before it got bloody, when the Van drove past the building where their leaders were.

"Where are we headed?" Hunter asked the driver.

"Don't worry about it," the driver said, reaching for something in his coat, possibly a gun.

When Hunter lunged himself into the front seat, the van exploded, and all Jason could see was flame and white, then black from being knocked out. They laid there for hours unconscious, no one coming to their aid. Jason woke up to Hunter screaming if there was anyone alive. Four Rysedeiniik were dead, the younglings of the pack. From that day on, tensions between the Vernians and the Dotarians were intensified even to this day.

Marcus rolled his eyes and turned around, walking away. 

"Get over yourself asshat. You can't hold me accountable for something my race did. Take some time to cool down, I want to see you in the barracks in ten minutes.

Solomon, if he does anything stupid, kill him."

That Dotarian reminded him of that place. Everyone strutting around and fighting anyone who got in their way. Marcus had despised that place. That is why he had signed up for Delta Base.

Jason glared at the man walking away, then glared at the one called Solomon, standing 10 feet away from him with a sniper rifle pointed straight at his unprotected head. He then addressed everyone around him, "You are all warriors, no? The Ibsenians have never understood the Dotarian Honor Code, and had he understood it he wouldn't have acted so foolishly. If you respect the fact that I am a prestigious warrior of my people, then I will give you Honor for your endeavors. You treat me like this Ibsenian treated me, and I will not let it go easily. Such is the Dotarian Way."

He retracted his blades and held his hands up, "I give you your respects, ans I am unarmed and won't harm you without good reason. You treat with me Honorably, then I shall treat you the same. I live by my sword and word, and I swear to this fact on those things I hold dear. I am a Dotarian warrior."

Someone then came forth to him and said, "Here, there is no rank other than our commander here, Marcus. Rank doesn't matter here, and since you used the fact that you are the commander of whatever the hell you said, you were breaking the code here."

"I respect you, warrior, for coming forth to me and enlightening me. Had I known this, I wouldn't have been so steadfast, but since your commander declined to let me know of this knowledge, he has still Dishonored me. We Dotarians are always persecuted with Honor in other societies, and because of this I was so quick to defend my Honor. It may sound silly to you, but to us it is our way of live, especially for Knights. If you all wish for me to help you, then I shall, but first and foremost I have a friend I must attend to." With that, Jason followed the Medical Droids to the Infirmary.

Ghost quickly reapplied his helmet and retreated away from Heckliir, as the latter stood angrily. As a Mutate Ghost was tall, 3 meters to be exact, but the Dotarian was taller and angrier. He was completely stunned at the following argument. He had never seen Caroc snap like this before, something big must have set him off.

After Caroc left and Heckliir calmed down Ghost approached him again, lowering his rifle. "Here, there is no rank other than our commander here, Marcus. Rank doesn't matter here, and since you used the fact that you are the commander of whatever the hell you said, you were breaking the code here."

Heckliir's response was, enlightening, to say the least. Ghost watched him leave for the medical bay, his head tilted to the side inquisitively. He looked up at Chambers and shrugged his shoulders, a difficult thing in his armor. Ghost suddenly screamed and fell to the ground shaking and tearing at his left pauldron. There was a sickening crunch as a glowing green crystal shoved its way out of his shoulder. Ghost managed to cry out, "Mono-cyprus Tri-chlorate!" before he closed his eyes and slipped away from consciousness.

----------
05:00 9th of November
DSS Kraken

The drop room of the Kraken was silent, all except for one voice. It was a private, relaying a story to any who would listen.

"The rumor is that sarge was the only survivor of a terrorist attack at Karrion, well except for a few helimen. They say he hasn't been the same since then, completely silent." The private quietly said.

"Oh come on. You don't actually believe those rumors do you?" Another soldier said skeptically.

"Let me finish." The private said. "They also say he doesn't feel anymore, like a ghost. There haven't been any survivors in his squad since."

"That's bull-crap and you know it man."

"No, I swear that I have the most reliable sources."

Suddenly one of the troopers leaped to attention and shouted "Sergeant on deck!"

------

He didn't even round a corner before he heard a scream from the Green Humanoind behind him, and a huge crystal sticking out of his back. Jason sprinted to the man and picked him up, grabbing his shoulders on the opposite side of the huge crystal and making the man face the floor as Jason drug him to the sick bay. A droid came to help Jason by grabbing the screaming man's legs once he started to round the corner and slammed the man's legs into a wall.

Once they made it to the Med Bay, Jason grabbed the legs of the green man and slung him on a table, with the Medical Droid looking at Jason and inquisitive of the situation.

"Who are you?" it asked.

"My name is Jason Heckliir, but that doesn't matter. Fix this man now."

"What happened?"

The droid that helped Jason said, "It grew out of him."

"He's aging..." The Medical Droid said, and went to work on Ghost.

Jason, after seeing the Medical Droid go to work, went to Adam, who was laying down on the table two tables away from Ghost.

"Medical Droid, what have you been doing for him?"

"He is in shock, but he was also in pain, as if he suffered some great torture in the recent past. I gave him some morphine to numb his pain and he has been sleeping softly ever since. He will be fine for now."

Jason laid his hand on Adam's shoulder and said a blessing over him, then prayed to the Titan for Adam to be alright. Once he was done, he went to the Barracks to talk to Marcus.

//I wish to offer hearty congratulations at Crumstain becoming the pope of Malkbacconne!!!!//

Karl watched the entire time from the central control room of the Delta Base. Not having skills with firearms, he would have been more in the way than helpful. But from up here, he had tools at his disposal that could defend the base from a much more high-tech standpoint. There were no weapons that he could use per se, but with the right knowledge, anything is possible. For instance, if worst came to worst, he could kill anyone in the hangar deck by cutting off the oxygen supply to that room, or by opening the airlock to flush everyone out into space, or by simply locking all of the blast doors making starvation a possibility.

The command screen showed the situation unfold in the hangar. Karl smiled, almost amused. The Dotarian reminded him somewhat of himself. When the scene turned to chaos once Ghost hit the floor, he grimaced. It seemed strange that so much was happening way out here on the Delta Base. Things were supposed to be quiet. Not that he was complaining, that is.

When the Dotarian, Jason, Marcus remembered, came back in he walked sullenly. Marcus was really getting tired of this guy.

"Listen, I am just going to lay the whole situation out to you. This is a Delta Base, one of thousands of bases built to watch the outer rim for invading forces after a hostile transmission was received. This specifically is Delta Base 0956. I am sorry for the disrespect earlier, but I had no idea who you were or where you had come from. You were an invading force on my base. I cant GRANT you favors. I would like if we can remain on good terms, because honestly you wont be getting off this base for 4 more months. Thats the next supply run. HOWEVER, if you or your friend have any info regarding the outer rim it may warrant a ride back home. So, what has happened to you?

"I honestly don't remember what happened or who did it, all I know is that there was tons of immense pain, and the people who did it to us are a race of beings different from who we've encountered before. I have to get a communications link to Requiem to let my leaders know I'm alright, as I am an important person in my society and they are looking for me," Jason replied.

He then remembered his Knighting Ceremony, right after the Ryse was Knighted by the Praxi //An alien// Marius, who helped the Dotarians win their independence from the Prax. Hunter called him forth and he knelt to Hunter over the Brazier.

He was given a knife by Hunter to cut his hand open over the flame, and drip his blood in it. Then, Hunter grabbed his arm and forced his hand into the fire, hot enough to burn a hand off in seconds. Once his hand was burned to a bloody stump, to prove he was worthy, he had to fight the flames to regrow his hand back, and it was the most excruciating pain Jason ever felt.

The Dotarians, being more barbaric than most aliens in the Galaxy, urged him on to regrow his hand. little by little, his hand came back to form in the flames and Hunter smiled at him. Once Hunter released his hand, he pulled it back to his chest to nurse it.

"General Jason Heckliir of Requiem, you are worthy of being called a Vanguard Knight," Hunter said, withdrawing from the Brazier to the Titan's Throne, Come forth and kneel to receive your Honor."

Jason stood and walked to Hunter, euphoric that he would be recognized as the Third Knight of Dotaria. Once he was before Hunter, he knelt.

"Jason, do you swear to defend Dotaria, your Ryse, and your people to your dying breath? Do you swear to live by the Knight's Code of Honor, Justice, and Chivalry until the End of Days? Do you swear you are worthy, and will continue to be worthy of being called a Vanguard Knight of Dotaria?" Hunter said, giving him the Oath.

"I do swear, and deserve the Honor," Jason said, bowing his head.

Hunter drew his sword, "The by the power vested in me by our people, the Gods of Light, and by Timeo, the all knowing Father and Titan of Light and Hope, I name you Knight and Sir," he said, and tapped Jason on his shoulders with his sword. "Strip from your old armor and don the Armor of Knights."

Once he stripped to nothing but what the Gods gave him, he donned the Armor of the Vanguard Knights, and received a cut to his right pectoral marking him as a Knight.

"I have to talk to my Ryse, maybe he can bring us help if anything should come to us. I feel danger about to descend upon your base, Marcus," Jason continued, bringing himself back to reality.

Marcus sighed, "Sorry mate, i can send a message, but unless you have substantial info HQ wont fulfill any of our requests. There is no way to contact your king. Even if we did contact your Ryse, he wouldnt arrive for at least a week or two."

"I understand. Can you do that for me?" Jason asked, "I would be most appreciative."

//Just a question, what happened to near instantaneous space travel? Like slipspace jumps and things like that?//

Solomon was unable to breathe. The air was full of smoke and the sounds of shifting gears of vehicles. He opened his eyes, struggling for air. He sat up in the bed in the barracks and looked around. He looked to the wall on his left when a green crystal shot out of it, almost striking Solomon. At the same time, a familiar scream shot through the barracks. It was the same scream that Ghost let out in the hangar. Solomon began to panic as more crystals began to erupt out of the walls. He was struck and began to turn green. "No...No! This can't be happening!" Solomon said. He was walking backwards towards the door when he tripped and fell on his back. Solomon sat up from the bed in the barracks. He was dripping in a cold sweat. "Malkdamnit" He said to himself.

Solomon decided to get up and walk around a bit. He needed to get his mind off of the incident with Ghost. Solomon made his way to the cafeteria where it was empty. He got a drink of water and sat down at a table. The only sound that was being made was from his hands constantly shaking from all the memories he was having. "The doctors said I was supposed to be better..." Solomon thought. "What is wrong with me? All I think of is death and her."

Karl didn't know what to do. The base became extremely quiet, and he felt very alone. Well, they were alone, dozens of lightyears from the next fairly populated space port. He had expected this quiet, but after such a startlingly busy day it seemed strange. What was day anyway? The base was on an asteroid that did not orbit any particular star, but rather was itself lonesome, pulled in to the rest of the galaxy by the extreme mass of the galaxy itself. Karl wondered what the green crystals that had sprung out of Ghost's back were. They resembled nothing he has ever seen before. He pulled up the base's archive files which contained the whole of unclassified human knowledge. By voice, he entered a description of the crystals and sat back. A three dimensional hologram popped up, bringing him into another world. A scientist stood before him, holding one such crystal and began to explain to him. But before the recording could really begin, a thundering smash collided with the base, sending him flying from his chair across the room. He got up as quickly as he could, realizing with horror that the damage had destroyed the base's onboard gravitational generator. He bounced off the ceiling and ricocheted around the room. He was dangerously dizzy. He desperately grasped at a railing, and, with all his might, held on, absorbing the force of his momentum and re-orientating himself. He found what he had been looking for. Magnetic boots. Once the boots were on, his movement across the floor became slowed, but he had a sense of orientation once again. He brought up the controls for the outward observatory. The space ahead and around the small asteroid was empty. Thermal stats found no sign of anything out there either. What about radar? A sputtering image coughed itself up. It seemed like there was something there, but the screen flickered. Karl recognized it instantly. The object, or whatever it was, was radar disguised, and only traces bounced back to the receivers on the base. Not only had aliens arrived, but they knew where they were, and were hostile. There was nothing to lose. Karl grit his teeth and made his way slowly across the room to the transmitter. He typed in a message to HQ.

Code:

HQ: Delta Base 0956 is under attack by an unknown enemy, presumably The Outsiders. They are incredibly powerful and seem intent on the destruction of our galaxy. We did not pick up a visual or a thermal, and there were only faint traces of radar return. It moves swiftly and is nearly invisible.

As he was about to send the message, another blow of whatever the fuck was hitting it hit the base. A shower of sparks overhead destroyed the transmitter and any hope of communicating with HQ. There was only one other way. He moved as quickly as he could for the escape pods. If he made it there in time, he would eject and send his message to HQ. There was bound to be a transmitter on one of the pods, and he knew he would have seconds to send before being fried. Outsider sounds ominously seethed through the base, scaring the living crap out of him. He moved as quickly as he could down a hallway and up a flight up stairs. On the way he passed.....


To be continued....

"What the hell is happening?" Jason asked the man, running.

When gravity was lost in the base, Jason immediately turned on the magnetic field on the boots to his power armor and he slammed down to the floor on his feet. He was running to the Observation Deck when he saw a man running.

"What's your name?" Jason asked.

"Karl! There are aliens outside of the base, and they knocked out communications to HQ. They're coming right for us, I have to get to the escape pods to deliver this message!" the man said, over the noise of crackling electricity.

"The hell you are! Take this gun, I can't use it because my hands are too big. Here's a knife, follow me!" Jason said, ejecting a knife and giving it to the man, then ejecting his sword. He then contacted Marcus on the comms. "Marcus! Your base is under attack. See if you can form a defensive perimeter and get ahold of me if there is a break in your line!"

When they got to the Command Center, Jason could see the aliens with his keen eyesight, and they were forming a plan to attack the base. Looking at the radar, he could see that there were no hostiles, and that the hostiles were also jamming the signals on the cameras.

"Computer, magnify this area," Jason said, talking to the computer to magnify the men on the asteroid's horizon. "You see this Karl? Take that rifle, start putting rounds downrange, and be our Overwatch. You see anything coming up, you let us know so we can kill the bastards! Its a small party, probably well trained operatives."

Without another word, Jason left to see to the fortifications of the base when Karl said, "Incoming!" Right afterward, an explosion was heard inside the base, shaking the metal structure.

It came from the Hangar Bay.

Karl looked with stunned horror at Jason. "I don't know how to use this thing! And how's a knife going to help me?!" He ran as quickly as he could up the stairs with the gun and knife. Near the hangar itself lay the escape pods. He ran past them to a small box in the wall. He opened it, revealing a panel of controls. He scanned his finger in to the embedded computer, then hit a large green button. Since the automatic controls were down he had to do this manually. He heard the back-up generator power up, bringing the lights back on and more importantly, the gravity back on inside the base. The entire asteroid shuddered, then stabilized from its disastrous roll as the differential thruster system came back online. Finally, he switched off a small locking switch, opening the external airlock from the escape pod. He climbed in to it, and unhitched the mechanism securing it to the base. The pressure difference between the air in the base and the vacancy of space jettisoned him outwards. He saw light in the gaping hole he had created, air flowing rapidly out. Immediately, the hole slammed shut, as the locking system was reactivated and the doors shut. Karl activated the escape pod. Small blue electronic lights came on, illuminating the control panel in front of him. Urgently, he retyped his message and sent it. With it gone and on its way, he felt a huge sense of relief. There was nothing more he could do to alert HQ.

The ominous sound lurked all around him. The small escape pod was circular, but surprisingly well shielded. It also had small mounted weaponry and external vector thrusters that stabilized the small craft as it moved away from the Delta Base.

He realized with horror that his small craft was headed straight towards the Outsider ship, and no matter what he did with the controls, collision or rendezvous was unavoidable.

Ghost awoke. His armor was gone, and he was floating in the med-bay. How'd I get here? A quick glance showed him that he had a large crystal in his shoulder, and several smaller ones were growing down his torso. Ghost saw another person in the med-bay, he was floating nearby as well. Ghost eyes widened in horror as he noticed little green shards of crystal floating in the air. NO, no no no no! He carefully reached for the man, grabbing hold of him with his synthetic arm. Ghost pulled himself and the man through the base, to the barracks. Ghost reached into his bag and got a syringe filled with a purple liquid. This should keep him from getting Tiberium poisoning, but I don't have enough to stop my growth. Ghost had already made up his mind, he stabbed the man with the syringe, saving him.

Ghost left the man in the barracks, and floated his way to the weapons control station. From there he could see what was happening. He saw that one of the escape pods had just launched, and it was carrying Spencer. What's he doing? He noticed a distortion on the sensors, and the escape pod was heading straight for it. Without hesitation Ghost aimed the Ion Cannons at the distortion.

Marcus knew they were fucked. This wasnt a defensive fortiification, it was a watch tower, a communication base. It couldnt hold up to outside attack. Nonetheless, he would do his best to defend it. He ran up to the comm room. Running through the hallway to the stairs, he passed Spencer, 

"Sending a message. Transmitter Down. Escape Pod."

Marcus nodded, and continues up to the comms room. He arrived in the room, and it was in a state of disrepair. Sparks flew, and several systems were failing. He shut down all systems to the greenhouse and the mess hall to conserve energy. Then, he diverted all spare power to the shields. They would have to board in order to do damage. 

Turning his attention to the overview, he looked over the status of the base. The comms room was damaged, and leaking oxygen. The Hangar had been breached. The solar panels were down, as well as one of the ion cannons. Oxygen seemed to be working fine. As well as- Shit. Power levels were critical. The tractor beam had drained all of the power. Marcus would have to replace the fuel cells in the maintenance room, which were on the bottom floor next to the hangar. 

Right where Outsiders were landing.....

Marcus pulled up the speaker system and called out to the men. He extended the range to Spencer on the escape pod. The Outsiders would hear, but he doubted they would understand.

"Solomon, Jason, ANYONE that is still capable, we need to retake the bottom floor of the base. Set up a defense in the hangar, while you hold, Neo and I will replace the fuel cells. We need more power of our shields will fail. I am shutting off all but emergency lighting, and all non-essential systems. Spencer, you are in the escape pod. Listen to me, I need you back on base. Find a way back if you can. I will take a short-range communicator with me. Channel 504. Keep in touch. Ghost, start shooting. If you cant take out the main craft, stop others from boarding. 3,2,1....Lights out.

The lights flickered out, and gravity turned off. Marcus floated through the air, and grabber a communicator. Flicking it to channel 504, he waited for Spencer to contact him. Attaching it to his hip, he followed the blinking lights out of the comms room and down the stairwell. 

All was silent except for the constant gunfire pummeling the shields. Marcus floated down the stairwell, guiding himself when an loud noise behind him blew him off the railing. Suddenly, he was being pulled backwards into the vacuum of space. Marcus reached his hand out, and grabbed onto the edge of rent stairwell. His hand sliced open, and he recoiled. 

Fuck.


He rapidly reached out again, and just touched the railing. Then, he managed to catch a corner and hold on. Pulling himself down the stairway, not daring to breathe. His lungs began to burn, and just as he was about to pass out, he reached the second floor and shut the airlock. Taking a deep breath, he collapsed, unconscious on the floor.

"Marcus! Marcus! MARCUS!" Karl switched off the communicator. He would have to try again later. The escape pod had minimal maneuverability, but for a base this far out on the rim, it had been designed for distance and speed, not power. He checked the fuel levels. Nearly full. Good. He took a second of hesitation to sigh briefly, then grabbed the controls. He swiveled the small craft around, still moving quickly towards the Outsider ship. He then jammed the rear thrusters to full, feeling the escape pod straining against..... Against what?! He realized that just as he had used the Delta Base earlier to tractor beam in the two new men, so too was the Outsider ship pulling him in. The small escape pod had no chance. Instead of fighting it, he took out the communicator again. "MARCUS! Do you read me?! I'm being pulled in by the Outsider ship. You'll have to manage without me!" All Karl could hear from the other end was static. They could be jamming the signal... Karl maneuvered the ship towards the enemy ship, firing from the small electromagnetic pulse weaponry mounted on the escape pod. Most escape pods wouldn't have weaponry at all, but this was a Delta Base, and the possibility of such an event occurring had been planned for. He didn't even know what he was aiming at, or even if he was hitting. The escape pod nonetheless was puller ever closer, and closer, and closer to the Outsider ship.

Ghost opened fire on the Outsider main vessel, the three remaining Ion-Cannons firing bolts of white light. The light steamed toward the target, leaving trails that made them resemble comets. Ghost noticed the escape pod struggling to escape some kind of tractor beam from the ship. Ghost adjusted the power to fire more rapid, but less powerful shots, to annoy the ship and maybe let the pod escape. The first cannon rounds impacted the Outsider vessel, impacting on their shields. The escape pod started moving back towards the station. Ghost saw several smaller ships still moving towards the station, and diverted one cannon to point defense.

Ghost gasped for breath and glanced down, seeing more crystals starting to grow. Fighting to remain conscious he kept firing. He saw the power levels were draining, the fuel cells were almost depleted. Well, I guess these crystals are good for something. Ghost set the cannons for automated fire and rand towards the maintenance bay.

//DEAR GOD SOMEONE SAVE SPENCER! GHOST FIRE AT THE TRACTOR BEAM//