Alternative Stories

       _ _Head Director James Watson_ _

"What in god's name is happening out there?!" I shouted as I looked angrily at the nervous looking person on my computer screen.

"Sir please calm down." My receptionist, who was off to the side of me, said with a rather strained expression. Her usual calm demeanor was clearly cracking somewhat in the face of the current situation.

Not really in the mood to listen I focus my wrath on the still panicking person on my monitor.  "Explain the situation right now!"

"W-we aren't under attack, not by s-some kind of outside force a-anyway."

"What?!" That set off some very loud alarms in my head.

"W-whoever did this th-they...they planted bombs around the whole station and it wasn't done sloppily either." He attended to say while trying his best to calm the hell down. "The armory, backup power, security systems, surveillance, they severely crippled us on multiple fronts...I've...I've even got reports that some of the sp-specimens are, well, loose."

(Damn it!) I cursed internally at that last part, all of that was bad for us but that last part was down right horrible.

"And why, pray tell, is the station moving towards the planet's surface?" That was the big question, even with the damage to the various systems the station shouldn't be moving.

"We don't know sir, something has taken manual control of the station!" I was about to yell at him again but he continued before I could. "We're trying to bypass whatever it is but we might not have enough time, we're already closing in on the planet below and we're still getting damage reports from all over the station..."

"So?" I asked, not really wanting to hear an answer.

He sighed almost seeming to try and ready himself for my anger that was bound to erupt once more. "Even if we managed to regain control of the station, with this much damage to the systems we might not even be able to escape from the gravitational pull of the planet."

"Fucking damn it..." I growled while resisting the urge to punch the monitor before me.

It took a second for me to calm down somewhat before he spoke up again. "What do we do sir?" 

"Fuck! Evacuate the station!" I finally announced after a bit of hesitation. "Get everyone you can out of here! And if you get the chance, do me a favour and burn as many of the specimens as possible, we can't risk them escaping."

"But...but sir-"

Seeing that he was about to argue with me I stopped him. "If those things survive the crash they will spread like locusts! There are thousands of prisoners planet side with barely any way of actually defending themselves against each other let alone those damn monsters!" Both my receptionist and the person I was talking to turned pale at that but I continued. "Now when I tell you to kill as many of those fucking thing as you damn well can you better fucking do it! Am I understood?"

"Y-yes sir"

Unbeknownst to most, in a room not far from the bridge a figure could be seen standing and typing at a terminal built into the wall. "For the queen I live, for the queen I serve, for the queen I die."

            _ _Private Marcus pov_ _

"Shit!" I hissed as we ran past several mangled bodies that littered the ground. "The whole station is coming apart."

"We need to move marines!" Ava shouted over the roaring flames.

"Crap!" One of the people with us yelped and stumbled as the station shook from another explosion.

Seeing that he was about to fall I grabbed his shoulder and helped him steady himself. "You alright?"

"Y-yes."

"Good, now shut up and keep on moving!" I hissed while pushing him forward.

We ran and ran making our way through the station as quickly as we possibly could. We actually ended up passing by even more chard and burnt corpses, we did try to save as many people as we could but there were more lifeless bodies then there were living at this point. 

Anyway, we made our way further into the station until finally we made it to our destination. By the time we arrived I was coughing up a storm from the smoke that threatened to fill my lungs completely. Thankfully the massive metal doors hadn't slid completely shut yet so we were able to reach the hanger without much incident...however things don't always end as well as you hoped.

I had just reached the door when I heard it, a truly terrified voice echoed out from behind me. "Help! Please god help me!"

"What?" I asked confused as I turned around only to see something straight out of my nightmares.

"The specimens are ou-aaaaaah!" His sentence was cut off by his own scream of agony when a deep obsidian black blade tore its way through his chest like tissue paper.

"Oh fuck..." I whispered as my body stiffened.

I and the others around me watched as the poor bastard's body crumpled to the ground as the damn abomination ripped its tail back out leaving a gaping wound where his lungs used to be. It got even worse however, this was because as his body hit the ground with a sickening thud four more of the fucking things came charging out from around the corner. One was on the ceiling while another was on the left wall, the others simply sprinted towards us with that mindless ferocity that sent a shiver down my spine.

"Close the fucking door!" Ava yelled, causing the guy at the controls to freak out even more as he tapped crazily at the console in front of him.

"I'm trying!"

(Shitshitshitshit!) I thought as the fucking things got closer and closer to the still closing door but before they could reach us...

"Move!" Someone yelled before pushing me out of the way causing me to pause for a second in confusion.

Once I came back to my senses however I turned around and watched as the guy in question pulled out a somewhat modified looking heavy pistol from his waist and opened fire. First shot, hit, right shoulder. Seconds shot, hit, lower chest. Third shot, miss, hit the back wall. Fourth shot, instant kill, straight through the head. He just stood there not even flinching as he gunned them down one after the other, by the time the doors had shut completely he had killed three of them, emptied his whole clip and greatly wounded the other two.

"Everything has gone to shit." He glowed in irritation as he put his gun back in its holster.

I was about to speak up but someone beat me to it. "Colonel?

"Lieutenant Ava?" He smiled but stopped when something began banging and clawing against the other side of the door.

"We should move"

"Yeah..."

Now that everything had calmed down I finally got a good look at the guy in question. He was only slightly shorter than I was and was wearing one of those fancy suits and hats that you sometimes see the higher ups wearing every now and then. His eyes were sharp and muddy green in colour, he also had slightly long brown hair that was tied into a ponytail and somewhat hidden by his hat. Anyway, the thing that stood out the most about him however was his right arm, it was covered in burnt scar tissue that seemingly went from his fingertips all the way up to his shoulder.

"Good to see that you're still alive and kicking." 

"Same to you." 

"Samuel Mercer, right?" Orion asked, pulling my attention towards him and interrupting the two from their reunion.

My friend was far shorter than I was, he had short black hair and grayish eyes as well. The guy was relatively muscular as most marines were but that didn't really matter all that much considering that his primary focus was in long range combat. Anyway, the kid was younger than me by about four or six years but was good company all things considered, not that I'd actually say that to his face mind you.

"Samuel is fine, who are these two by the way?"

"Oh, this is Private Orion and Private Marcus, their friends of mine" Ava hummed as she gestured to myself and my dark skin friend.

"Nice to meet you sir." Orion said respectfully.

"Wish it was under better circumstances but nice to meet you too son"

"Now that that's all out of the way, what exactly happened out there?" Ava asks, causing the colonel to pause for a moment.

"Someone has stabbed us in the back." He sighed as he began to explain. "The whole station is going down, half the crew is dead or dying, the xenos are out and on a bloody rampage, and finally the director has ordered a full evacuation."

"Shit..." Orion hissed as we approached our means of escape.

"This is a pretty nice ship." I muttered half heartedly as I looked up at the UD-4 Class Dropship or the Cheyenne Dropship as it was also called.

"Well for whatever it's worth, welcome aboard Corporals."

That made me freeze for a second as I looked over at him slightly confused. "Sir, we're privates."

"Not anymore you're not." He announced and Orion's jaw practically hit the floor. "Right now I need people I can trust and if Ava calls you her friends then that is good enough for me."

"Congratulations on your promotion." Ava snickered next to me knowing full well how much I didn't want this.

"God damn it..."