Cross posted from my [url:19f4e]http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-one/[/url:19f4e]. Comments welcome and appreciated.

The Fall, Part One

It was fall, and the air had turned colder per usual in the Freezone southwest of the Valux Corporate Arcology. That mixing with the retreating sun made for a chilling bite in the air. Terintal dropped to one knee, his breath coming out labored and rasping. It formed a mist before his mouth in the cool air. Lifting one hand from the dusty ground, he reached up to gingerly touch the worn and bloodied bandages over his stomach. They were wet, and had soaked through some time ago. Much more of this and he would not make it.

With a grimace he stood and looked around, trying to get his bearings. The eyesight his Elim ancestors had bestowed upon him helped him navigate despite the growing darkness. The cloud cover hanging low overhead meant that it would be a dark night, so not only did he need to change his bandage, but he also had to start making some sort of shelter for the night. There were limits to his enhanced vision. While he could see well in lower light levels, pure darkness was still beyond the limits of his sight.

He approached a set of ruins. Probably a small home long ago, now nothing more than a pair of opposite corners of a burned out building. It would shelter him from the wind at least, and give him some solid cover to hide in. He eased down and peeled off his blood soaked shirt, laying it across his legs. He found one of the sleeves was a bit less dirty than the rest and tore it free, making a make shift bandage. Peeling the tape and gauze of the original bandage from his stomach, he hissed as the wound and the bandage refused to be freed for a moment. Finally the old bandage came off. He applied the bit of shirt cloth and then reattached the original bandage in an attempt to keep the new one in place.

Slipping the one limbed shirt back on he sighed and leaned his head back, trying to plan his next steps. A few moments later soft echoing sounds from far off in the distance barely registered in the still night. Terintal pulled himself up and turned gingerly around. He peeked through the long gone window, only a the lower third of the frame was even in tact.

Several people were fanned out, torches in one hand, various weaponry in the other. Large dogs strained against large rope or chain leashes. The dogs were on Terintal’s scent. He cursed silently to himself, wondering at the luck of his trail crossing this band of hunting Remnants.

——–

Fifty miles east, ten miles north, and fifty feet up, the Kestrel LLS shuttle skimmed the rugged terrain that used to be the foothills of the rockies. The Prowler LX attached beneath it, jostling now and then due to the rough nature of the flight. Aboard the Prowler a squad of bio-engineered combat soldiers were strapped into their harnesses. Their armor bristled with pockets and weaponry. They each had a standard issue CDEM 32 pistol were strapped to their right thigh, and a CDEM F3000 assault rifle gripped in their hands.

One man stood and talked while the rest listened. Unlike all the others, Sgt Moss was not bio-engineered for combat. He was built for leadership. He strode confidently amongst the combat soldiers, growling out reminders to the orders each had already memorized. “Our target is very dangerous! He is wanted for multiple crimes against within the Arcology.” In this case all that matter though is that they were the Company’s employers. A contract was a contract and it really did not matter how many crimes their target had committed, or against whom.

The Company was not in it for the morality. Justice had nothing to do with their contract. It was all about money for the Company’s human executives.

Sgt Moss continued, while striding up and down the aisle, “We know that he is an Evolutionary Wielder of some power. We will not be caught off guard by his wielding! If he resists, you are authorized to use all necessary force! If he attacks, you are authorized to use whatever force is necessary to bring him down.”

“The plan is simple. Deploy the Prowler and dismount. Stan will scan the surrounding area, locate the target, and we will engage.”

Stan, or Squad Tactical AI Network, was the squads AI comm soldier. His implanted scanner systems were hard wired to the squads communication gear. As an AI, Stan could stay with the squad and protect himself, all while gathering streams of data about the surrounding area and distributing it to the appropriate squad members.

Over the comm system the pilot’s voice cut in, “Drop zone in five minutes.”

Sgt Moss chuckled, grabbed a hold of one of the hand hold loops and growled, “You heard the lady. Drop in five! Be ready to deploy!” Each of the soldiers went through their last minute checks, verifying their weapons were ready, etc. Sgt Moss grumbled, “And somebody wake up Hicks!”

——–

Drigzin slid easily through the rocky terrain. His cloak was nearly silent as it extended behind him. The tough slick cloth prevented it from snagging on any underbrush or sharp rock. Its warmth enveloped him whenever he stopped, reminding him of the security of the Sanctuarium. It was far to the north, months away in the time of his travels.

Like all of his Necrosi brothers and sisters, Drigzin was encouraged to explore the world and discover its secrets on his own. Each week he made a simple recording of his learnings, and transmitted it home through the Net.

His last transmission had detailed his run in with a strange mutant rat colony. It was only through luck and speed that he had survived the encounter. He treasured the new scars though, their aches reminding him of the thrill of the battle and intensity of his escape. He even decided upon a new piercing he would get to further remind him of the encounter. First his wounds had to heal though, and he had to find one of the local settlements so he could find someone with the right hardware.

His goggles rode high on his forehead, since the sun had fallen below the Rocky Mountains to the west of him. He was earplugs dangled from his collar. Out here, he wanted to hear everything, and see everything, experience all of it in its fullest. Once he found humans he usually utilized the protective gear to minimize their loud sounds and bright lights. It was enough to overwhelm him.

So it was that he easily detected the small band of Remnants and their dog companions. He followed them, slipping in his ear plugs as he got closer. If a fight broke out, he did not want to be deafened by his own pistols. The Remnants were tracking someone, and Drigzin was curious to see what would happen when they caught up with whoever, or whatever, they were tracking.

3 Interesting perspectives (that I presume will meld into one).  Pretty interesting Boingo.  You should share more of your thoughts (and possibly campaign uses / plans) of STAN on the NWSEC site.  Looks like it would fit under the Renaissance category.

Thanks.

Stan is just an AI with a few enhancements. I’ve not statted all the main characters out or anything, as this is just fiction, not a campaign. If there is enough interest though, I’ll go ahead and stat them out at some point. I’ll check out the section you mention on the NWSEC site.

Part two of the Fall, cross posted from my blog: [url:70128]http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-two/[/url:70128]:

Looking around Terintal quickly decided there were far too many of the remnant hunting gang for him to take on, especially in his current condition. Narrowing his eyes and concentrating to one side of the gang, he dug deep inside himself and pictured the rubble strewn area. His focus dropped to one particular stone. Concentrating carefully he lifted it up with just the power of his mind and his innate knowledge of how the energies of the world around him flowed. Snapping his eyes open, he ended the Wielding, allowing the stone to come crashing down.

Instantly several shots were fired in that direction. It was just enough of a diversion, and Terintal leapt over the far wall and began to bolt for the nearest chunk of rock and debris, hoping to get behind it before he was seen.

"Over there!" came the shout from one of the gang members. The men were trained enough to keep thier eyes peeled when something like the noise the rock had created caught them off guard. More shots rang out. Just as Terintal leapt over the latest line of rocks and rubble puffs of stone chips sprayed up around him and the air near him popped as shots wipped passed him.

Where Terintal expected to find flat ground he instead found a steep incline. With a yelp of surpise he tumbled down into the darkness.

The little bit of training posessed by the Remnants went out the window once prey was spotted. Several let loose their dogs and started charging for Terintal’s position. Others moved a bit more slowly, what was important, was that they did not stick together.

————

It was that mistake that gave Drigzin the opportunity he had been waiting for. He strode up, quietly and calmly. When the first dog heard him and turned, Drigzin squeezed the triggers of the twin Raust PD-3 mini machine pistols he was carrying. Though he was almost at the edge of the weapon’s accurate fire range, his aim was true and he had the element of surprise. The closest two Remnants did not even know what hit them. Their bodies danced, riddled with bullets, then came crashing down. It left several Remnants and dogs to deal with.

They all turned toward the dark cloaked Necrosi warrior, with hatred and anger in their eyes.

It was then that the grenade Drigzin had quietly rolled into their midsts went off. The darkening night erupted as the explosion tore through man and beast.

————

Corporal Kaliana Hicks, like the rest of the bio-engineered combat troops had been through this before. Unlike some of the others though, she had been through it enough times that she was able to sleep during the Sarge’s speeches and the jostling of the Prowler in the hooks of the Kestrel. When the trooper next to her elbowed her she woke up, wiped a bit of spit from the corner of her mouth and then went over the final check on her weaponry.

The pilot came over the comm system again, "Be advised drop zone is hot, active weapon fire detected." All over the interior of the Prowler, weapon safeties were flipped off.

————

Head over heels, Terintal fell, rolling along the hard ground. Finally he landed against something soft, a net or cloth of some kind he thought at first. When it stuck to him Terintal realized that it was much worse than that. Looking deeper into the hole he saw something massive beginning to stir. His adrenaline pumping, he sprang to his feet and ran as hard as he could back up out of the hole.

The thing behind him was fast, and if it had not been surprised by the noise of the firefight and then the arrival of Terintal right at its doorstep, it might have had a meal without any real effort. As it was though, the giant nocturnal scorpid took a few moments to get its bearings then charged up out of its lair.

The remnant gang was so surprised to see Terintal run up out of the hole that they did not fire. They had already let the dogs off their leashes, and even those vicious attack dogs knew that something was up. Something was not right, very not right. Terintal glanced to one side and was shocked to see a new threat, flying in low, about to land and release a Prowler was a Kestrel shuttle.

————

The Prowler shocks absorbed the blow of the shuttle landing. The shuttle hooks detached with loud clangs, and the shuttle began to ease upward.

Some of the remnants, seeing the shuttle come in started firing in that direction. The shots bounced easily off both armored vehicles.

The back door of the Prowler slammed down and the squad came flowing out, Kaliana in the lead. A quick burst from her assault rifle took a Remnant firing in their direction off his feet. Stan ran out and ducked to one side. He found a large outcropping of stones, slipped between a few and began to set up his comm relay gear.

————

The giant scorpid burst from its lair with surprising speed. It slammed into the remnants like a freight train. Massive claws snapped dogs into mashed fur, gore, and bones. Its tail stinger slammed through the chest of remnant, his submachine gun sprayed fire into several of friends as he writhed, his screams were drowned out by the roar of the shuttle engine.

Seeing the scorpid, the shuttle pilot decided it was time to let the ground pounders do thier thing and get back to the arcology.

The scorpid, reacting to the sound and the heat from the shuttle more than any recognition of it as a threat, lifted its gore coated tail in that direction. A thicky web like substance sprayed forth. It coated several of the combat soldiers, covered the prowler and the left half of the shuttle.

————

Drigzin and Terintal saw each other at the same time. They decided quickly that neither was an immediate threat and the surrounding threats were more important. Terintal pointed at a large rocky outcropping off to one side between them and the advancing combat squad. "There, let them kill the beast!" He bolted that direction, and Drigzin fell in behind him.

Kaliana was one of five squad members not caught in the web. She turned and let the single grenade chambered in her F3000 loose at the creature. It exploded on contact with the massive thing’s armored carapace. While the blast rocked the creature it did not take it down. It continued to smash its way through the last of the remnant hunting gang.

Some of the squad members turned to engage the beast, while others fired at the two men running for cover. Recognizing that was where Stan was, Kaliana moved quickly in that direction, determined to engage the targets.

The ground behind Terintal and Drigzin began spraying up as bullets trailed them toward cover. Stan looked up just in time to throw his hands up as Terintal and Drigzin dived into the cover he was already located in.  The two men tumbled to either side after knocking the AI over. Drigzin failed to notice the comm gear until it was too late. He landed badly, stumbled, and smashed into the comm relay.

The shuttle’s engines roared, and for the briefest of moments the webbing held. It was just enough. The pilot over compensated, and when the webbing tore loose the shuttle spun in a wide arc. Its tail slammed into the Prowler sheering a huge hole in one side. The tail came completely off and the rest of the shuttle body, rocketed to one side.

The Prowler, propelled by the impact flipped up and to one side. It landed on several squad members, killing them instantly. One of the squad members had leveled his rifle for a grenade shot at the Scorpid. As the Prowler flipped the webbing went tight and he was yanked off his feet. The grenade was fired instead at the ground right in front of him. The resulting explosion killed another squad members and leveled two others.

The explosion behind Kaliana had her spinning and looking for cover. Terintal saw her and bolted out. He grabbed her combat harness and threw her back into the rocky cover, turning his back on the carnage behind him. Kaliana landed on her back between Stan and Drigzin. She looked passed Terintal and her eyes went wide. The last piece of the shuttle, the main fuselage slammed into the scorpid killing the massive semi trailer sized beast. The shuttle engines, both powered by a small reactor, breeched not only thier first containment arrays but their second.

Drigzin lifted his head at the noise, then regretted doing so. His goggles still on his head did him no good when the brilliant explosion lit up the battlefield. He screamed and threw both hands to his eyes in pain, then rolled away from what would be an intense blast wave.

Kaliana laid there staring at the man that had thrown her down into cover. He was quickly thrown into shadow by the explosion. She could not see his face, just the outline of his form. She knew it was their target. She knew she would die with him though, and thus the company would be able to charge payment for the job’s completion. At least it was something.

Stan’s neural net of programming and neurons was designed to do battlefield calculations on the fly. He quickly calculated their survival probability at zero percent. An error checking routine reclassified the percentage at one percent. One thing Stan had learned over time was to always include a chance of something unexpected happening.

It is Monday. That means, more from The Fall, cross posted from my [url=http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com:bc3d3]blog[/url:bc3d3].

The explosion ripped over the small group in an instant. The rocks around them helped to shield them, but it would have never been enough. Within the rocky hiding spot the group huddled, all except for Terintal. He still stood, his back to the explosion. A shimmering field of blue energy poured from his outstretched hands, covering them all like a bubble. He screamed, the pain of the explosion and the burn of wielding so much power overwhelming his normally composed form.

Kaliana just stared up at him, silhouetted as he was. If he didn’t hold out long enough, it would be for nothing. Somehow she knew though that he would. She swallowed the lump in her throat and as quickly as it started the explosion ended.

Terintal’s eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed in a heap, half on top of Kaliana. She quickly shoved him off and rolled him over to his back. Blood trickled from the corner of his eyes and mouth.

Stan stood and looked around at the charred and blasted wreckage and terrain. “One percent,” he muttered. He looked down at his smashed comm uplink. There would be no call for extraction from that unit.

“Get over here Stan, he’s dieing.” Kaliana pulled up Terintal’s bloodied shirt and started ripping at the bandage that was oozing with his blood.

“He is supposed to die, Corporal Hicks.” Stan was only reminding her, not countering her order. Already he was pulling a paz dispenser from one of his side pouches. He bent down and applied the patch to the wound, then reached into another pouch to fish out a stim shot.

Kaliana stopped him, “No stim, not yet. Let him rest.” Stan cocked his head to one side and stared at her a moment then put the shot back in the pouch. He turned to the down necrosi.

Drigzin was on his hands and knees, blinking to clear his sight. Finally when he looked up, he saw that the AI had leveled a rather large pistol at him. “Whoa. How about putting that thing away?”

Kaliana strode over and kicked the necrosi’s machine pistols a bit away then frowned at him, “Who are you? And how do you know him?” She nodded down at Terintal’s unconscious form.

“I don’t.” Drigzin shrugged, deciding that the truth was about all he had to offer.

“Then why did you come to save him?” Kaliana was already working maintenance on her F3000, making sure it was still in working order while Stan kept the necrosi covered.

“No one deserves to be turned into dog food, or worse.” Kaliana paled at that. She too had heard of remnants that had resorted to cannibalism. She glanced back at Stan.

“How long till the first drone comes to find out what happened to us?” She stood and looked out at the wreckage of their vehicles, and at the bodies of their comrades.

Stan kept his eyes and pistol on the necrosi but answered, “They will launch immediately from the bit of radio traffic I heard. Flight time is negligible, maybe ten minutes.” The necrosi sat back and lifted up to on top of a rock.

Kaliana nodded, “Get my comm patched through so I can talk to them the moment their drone is in range. I want out of here as soon as possible.” Stan nodded and though outwardly he did nothing, Kaliana knew he was preparing subroutines that would patch her comm unit into the drone’s and back to the arcology and their employer. She walked over to Terintal, who was still out cold, and ziptied his hands together. She knew if he woke with enough energy to wield, they would not do too much, but figured any bit would help.

The necrosi spoke, “You really think that after what happened here, they are just going to bring him in? Much less you two as well?”

Kaliana snapped her gaze over to him and growled, “The Company will pick us up. And we have their target in hand.”

The necrosi smirked, “If you say so.”

Kaliana had several minutes to think it over, just before the drone arrived she rolled Terintal onto his side, hiding the his bound hands from easy view.

Before any of them heard or saw the drone, Stan glanced to the east. “It is in range.”

“Patch me through,” muttered the bio-engineered soldier.

“Already done,” answered the AI.

“Valux Arcology, please acknowledge.” Kaliana waited, her breath held a moment or two. The voice that came through from the other end sounded annoyed.

“This is Valux Arcology. You are on a private comm channel, please remove yourself from this channel immediately.”

“Neg, Valux Arcology. This is Corporal Kalian Hicks of Knight’s Company. Our bird is down and we are in need of extraction.” Kaliana saw the drone fly in from the distance. Its small light was barely visible but since she knew what she was looking for she was able to spot it.  It stopped, hovering several hundred yards away. She knew its camera was recording everything.

There was a long pause, “This is a corporate comm channel, soldier, you should be going through your chain of command for such a request.”

“What chain of command?! We are stuck in the Freezone, with no transportation and hostiles nearby. Our satcomm uplink is smashed. Get a bird over here and extract us.”

Another long pause, “Understood Corporal.” Another long pause a different voice entered the comm channel.

“Do you have the package?” Kaliana looked down at Terintal’s still form. She swallowed and then looked over to Stan. He watched her, blinking unnecessarily a few times to attempt to seem more human. He shrugged. It was her call.

“Yes. We do.” She frowned. He had saved her life, but it was the job.

“Is he alive?” the new voice asked.

“Why does that matter? You wanted him dead or alive.” She did not like where this was going.

“Is he alive?” the new voice repeated.

“Yes.” Kaliana’s shoulders slumped. She had a feeling if she answered no, then there would be no extraction. Just after her answer the drone started to drift forward again.

Stan frowned. His eyes narrowed, and he looked to Kaliana. Drigzin eased off the rock he was on and started to slip back out of the rock formation. Kaliana frowned, turned off her comm and muttered, “Shut that damn drone down Stan.”

Stan nodded, and was already half through the fire wall that protected the drones control mechanisms.

Kaliana flipped the comm back on. The voice from the arcology was furious and already talking. “… your AI out of our drone!”

Kaliana raised her assualt rifle and sighted in on the drone, “Then back the drone off. We are working for you.” The comm link went dead. The drone started to race forward toward them. Kaliana pulled the trigger again and again, bullets bouncing off the drone’s armored shell. “Stan!”

His voice was as closed to human stressed as he could fake, “I’m working on it!” He was through the firewall, and ripping his way through control subroutines. He found the self destruct process already running, the drone’s engine containment was mere moments from breach. He tried shutting it down, but he did not have override authority for that process. Instead, he shut down the process that was making the drone weave and duck as it sped towards them.

It was enough to give Kaliana a better shot, and she put them to good use. The drone’s camera was destroyed, but she did not know if she was going to be able to do enough damage in time. The drone got closer and dived in toward them. Kaliana yelled, “Cover!” She threw herself behind the rocks, hoping it would be enough.

Stan just stood there. He knew that if he was not able to shut the destruct process down no amount of cover would save them. To himself he muttered, “One percent.” He glanced back at where his prisoner had been. The necrosi was gone.

Terintal woke up for a moment, he was facing toward the woman that he had saved. She was huddled behind a large rock. She glanced over at him and was screaming something. She ducked her head, bringing her arm up to shield herself from the imminent blast of the drone.

[url=http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-4/:77acd]Part Four[/url:77acd], is ready.

The drone slammed into the ground, throwing dirt in a wide fan out from its impact point. The explosion that should have followed never happened.

Stan’s neural network was working overtime. He explored every nook and cranny of the drone’s operational code. He ran every routine he knew against the drone’s core operating system and when that failed he began running them all against every one of the drone’s running processes. Finally he found it. A backdoor was built into one of the navigational routines. Some sloppy coder had forgotten to patch a hole he had created for himself. Security protocols were hard, and many programmers built in their own way into their program’s subroutines for easier debugging.

Usually they were closed before the code was installed. Luckily this one had not been. Now Stan had system level access to the drone’s navigation system. He tried accessing other processes from within that one, but it was no use. The code firewalls were too strong. Finally Stan started using the navigation system to hit the core with random commands as fast as the software would allow.

The drone’s system core responded by shutting down the navigation system. Without a navigation system to guide it, the drone’s fail safe shut down system kicked in, and the drone shut itself down.

When dirt and not fire rained down on Kaliana, she glanced up and around. Stan was standing over her holding one hand down to help her up. “The drone has been neutralized.” She ignored the hand and stood quickly, brushing herself off.

“We need to get out of here.” She looked around again and finally noticed the necrosi was missing. “Where is the other one?”

Stan glanced back to where the necrosi had been. “He departed.” The glare from Kaliana was lost on the AI.

Terintal groaned and finally managed to sit up a little bit. He blinked and sighed a bit, then glanced down at the zip ties, “Heading back to the Arcology are we?” Kaliana walked to in front of hip and yanked her combat knife from its sheath. “Whoa! Hold on a second!” He held his hands up to shield himself.

She grabbed his bound hands and cut through the bonds with a quick precise slice. “You can go.” She practically spit the words. Terintal sat stunned, but Stan quickly interjected.

“Corporal Hicks, we have a contract. Need I remind you that…” Kaliana spun on him.

“Contract!? Is that what you call this?” She motioned toward all of the wreckage and burning debris in the rocky field beside them. “I call it a cluster-*%$&.” She turned grabbed up her F3000 and began walking south.

Stan waited a moment then asked, “Where are you going?”

“South,” she growled. “The company has a resupply cache in the ruins of Denver. It will have a sat uplink. We can call the company and get evaced.”

Terintal laughed out loud, “Denver!? Are you crazy? That place is nothing but a mutant filled crater.” He stood, wincing a bit and then rubbing his wrists. He had to put a hand on a nearby rock to steady himself. His knees wobbled a bit and he blinked hard against the pain throbbing in his gut.

Stan walked over and applied an injector to his exposed neck before Terintal could react. The soft hiss of pressure was released and Terintal blinked as the medicine swiftly pushed throughout his system. The stim was strong and Terintal knew it was mainly masking the damage his nervous system was reporting to his brain. He didn’t care, he was just glad to not be feeling it. He nodded at the AI then turned toward Kaliana’s retreating back.

“You won’t even make into the city limits alone. I don’t care how good you are. Denver was a big city. Do you even know where in Denver the cache is?”

Kaliana spun angrily on him. “I’ll tear the whole city apart if I have to. I’ll find it. I…” She looked past him at the wreckage still burning in the field. Her voice grew cold and low, “I will find it.”

Stan made an electronic equivalent of a cough and then said, “I know where it is.” They both looked at him and he shrugged, “We are all programmed with it, in case a team needs it. We are within three hundred miles of four caches. The closest of which, by far is the Denver cache.”

Terintal frowned and then shook his head, “Fine, but I’m going with you.” He took half a step and Kaliana started shaking her head.

“No, no you aren’t.”

“Why not?” Terintal tried his best to look hurt, which in his current circumstances was not hard.

“One, you’ll slow us down. Two, we can’t trust you. Three…” She swallowed, trying in vain to come up with more reasons.

“I saved your life.”

Stan agreed, “That he did, without his wielding we would be no more.”

Kaliana shot Stan a glare. “Whatever. Why would you help us?”

Terintal glanced around then motioned to the wreckage. “Well as close as I see it, you and the disappearing necrosi are the only things out here that aren’t actively trying to kill me. Strength in numbers and all that. Besides, you can’t possibly use all the supplies in the cache, and I could definitely use some gear and an open sat comm link.”

Kaliana narrowed her eyes. “I don’t trust you.”

He shrugged, “You don’t have to, you have the gun.”

Stan interrupted again, “And you are a wielder, one that obviously wields a decent amount of power.”

“And there are two of you?” Terintal shrugged, he was out of ammunition in the argument. If they decided to leave him behind, there was little he could do to argue the points any further. “What if I said please?”

Kaliana glanced at Stan who just shrugged. “You are the ranking NCO, Corporal.” As progressive as the company tried to be, AI were still considered mostly just useful machines and were never promoted past the rank of private. This meant anyone in the company other than the most basic trooper could order the AI around.

Sighing, Kaliana threw up her free hand and said, “Fine, but I swear, if you slow us down too much, or so much as look at one of us cross-eyed, I’ll end you in a heartbeat.” She released the guns cartridge and looked in to make sure it still had ammo, then slapped it back into place.

Terintal nodded and swallowed, muttering, “I don’t doubt that.”

The three moved off quickly, not noticing that they were being watched by multiple sets of eyes. Besides a quiet necrosi that slid to trail them into the darkness, a small band of remnants crept up to examine all the wreckage and salvage what they could.

One large brutish man whose entire body was covered in a dark mutation that resembled something between rock and tree bark walked up to the drone and rolled it over with one boot. The camera assembly was trashed, but there was a small readout on the back. As he watched the readout flicked to life. A sequence of commands flew by, as the drone’s manual reboot and system diagnostics started to kick in.

The last process finally started up, then immediately finished its previous command. The remnant standing closest never even had time to raise his hands. The night sky was lit up as the drone breached its small engine, destroying everyone who still stood in the clearing.

In a small command post inside the arcology, a technician looked up at the imposing figure standing behind him. “It’s done sir.”

The dark figure nodded and turned to walk out of the room.

Whoomp, [url=http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-5/:dbcc9]there[/url:dbcc9]it is. Part five, cross posted as usual.

Neyah sat with watching the dogs fight over scraps that had been thrown to them. They tore into the pieces like the near wild animals they were, fighting over every last morsel like it was to be their last meal. Only one dog did not push its way into the middle, instead it walked calmly through it and took what it wanted, while other dogs just let it, showing deference to the large white and gray dog.

Neyah was struck by similarities to the dwellers on earth, and sighed slightly. Unlike most remnants, Neyah was educated in history. Not in the formal university style like many of the great walled city dwellers, but in more of an oral and self read fashion. Her father had taught her to read and write, and collected many wonderful books for her to read, unfortunately, when he had died, and her mother had fallen ill, the books, like Neyah’s independence had been sold to the highest bidder.

Neyah wondered what ever happened to her dogeared copies of great novels such as Atlas Shrugged, The Black Company, War and Peace, The Hobbit, and Grapes of Wrath. When her mother and uncle had suggested that all the books be sold, and Neyah be married off, she was more angry about the books than herself.

That all changed when she met her husband, Ruhdrin, for the first time. He was a brute of a man, with thick blackened skin over three quarters of his body. His attitude had been shaped by his mutation and he was a horrible man. His wealth and Neyah’s mother’s health had been enough to convince Neyah that she was doing the right thing when she agreed to marry the man. The bride price he had paid was enough to allow Neyah’s uncle to provide medicine for her mother for some time. It was shortly after that ran out that Neyah’s mother had fallen very ill, and died under Neyah’s care.

Ruhdrin had mistreated her from the very beginning. Her wedding night had been a nightmare, and while the two years since had slowly gotten better, it was still nothing like the life she had envisioned for herself. Her best days were the ones where Ruhdrin went hunting. She would stay home and care for the dogs that were not well enough or old enough to hunt. Sometimes he would be gone for days at a time.

In between hunts she did everything she could to please him, for his anger seemed to know no bounds. A few times he had let her go hunt in his place, and it was during those times that she was the most free. She had always loved exploring the world around the tribe’s encampments, and her archery skills were better than her husbands. It was quite rare that she did not come back with a little less meat than he had the previous hunt. Only once had she returned with more. It had angered him so much that she never made that mistake ever again.

The cough behind her half surprised Neyah, knocking her out of her daydream. She turned around and nodded to the large man before her, “Hello, Norind.” She looked around, confused, first by the look on Norind’s face, then by the lack of people accompanying him. Norind had went out with Ruhdrin on the last hunt. “Where is my husband?”

Norind frowned even more than he had been before, “I’m sorry, Neyah, but Ruhdrin was killed on the hunt.”

How she had dreamed of the day he would die when they first met! Instead of happiness though she felt as if she had been punched in the gut. It took a moment to comprehend, then her knees buckled and she nearly fell. Norind caught her and eased her down against the fence of the dog pen. “I’m sorry Neyah, I…”

She felt the tears come, and was instantly angry at herself for shedding them. She cried though, uncontrolled wheeping at the thought of her husband’s death. She wiped at the tears and shook her head, “It can’t be… he can’t be dead… he can’t.” She kept shaking her head, hands over her eyes, wishing she could stop the crying for the man she thought she hated.

Norind placed a gently hand on her shoulder, but no words came. He was not used to having to console a widow, and faced with no words to comfort her, he patted her gently, then muttered a soft, “I’m sorry, I’ll leave you to your grief.” He stood and walked quickly away.

Neyah cried for what seemed like hours. She went inside, and knew that never again would her husband be there. She thought of the abuse he had perpetrated against her, but also the times they shared a meal, the laughter they shared, and even the more intimate moments. Somehow though she knew she had been a victim, but she had been a willing victim. She cursed whatever it was in side of her that made her feel for a man she often considered a monster, but knew that the tears were real, and so was the pain and hurt that her heart was feeling.

The first few visitors were there to console her, offer to help with chores, or any number of other mundane things one does when a neighbor has suffered a great loss. While she appreciated the thought, she had only wished they would go away sooner. It was from them that she learned the details of Ruhdrin’s death. Of the man that they had tracked through the night, the fight in the rocky lands to the north, and then of the explosions that had destroyed Ruhdrin.

After that visitors started coming that wanted things. People that normally Ruhdrin would deal with, but now she had to. As if sensing her precarious state, they started pushing her, trying to commit to things she could not possibly know anything about. Finally she sent them all away as well.

Eventually there was a knock on the door and when she called out for the visitor to go away, the door opened anyways. In stepped Elder Goran. While she was upset that he had ignored her call, she knew she had no right to throw him out. As Elder, his word was law inside the tribe. He looked around then spoke. “Its been a year since your mother died, two years prior to that it was your father. Now it is your husband’s turn.”

She looked up at him with puzzlement, then shook her head as she realized where he was going. “I was here the entire time… I couldn’t have…”

“We have already decided. You will leave in the morning. This is not up to debate.”

Neyah clamped her mouth shut and then balled her hands into fists to prevent them from shaking. Finally she growled, “Then I have a lot of packing to do. Leave my house. Now.” While he could have protested her harsh tone or words, he chose not too. It was as if he understood her anger. Still, it would not changed his or the other elders’ minds.

She sat after gathering a few things including honey, an egg, some glue made from sap, a candle and large piece of glossed ceramic that they used as a plate. She burned the candle, right below the overturned ceramic plate until a good portion of the plate was covered with a large amount of soot. Mixing the honey, the egg’s yolk, and the glue over the soot, then adding a little water, she soon had a dark black ink.

She collected the ink in a jar, then set about writing a letter on top of the lone table in the small home.

“Elders,

You have every right to put me from the village, but I will not stay away for long. You believe me ill luck or some bringer of death to those around me. I will prove to you that it was not my hand that slew Ruhdrin, but people outside our tribe. Even better, I will hunt down those responsible and bring you back their heads.

Before Ruhdrin and I were married, I was told that without a husband to provide for me I would be a burden on the tribe. My husband is gone, and so I will leave as you suggest, but I will shall prove to you that I can care for myself. After I have hunted down those that slew my husband I will show you that I can take care of myself.

Then I shall return, and when I do, you will know that justice has been served. Perhaps then you will know that I can provide for myself. Maybe then you will let me live in peace in the home that I have come to embrace as my own. The home that my husband built for us. The home that my mother died in.

- Neyah”

Pulling the sharpest knife from the several she used in the home, she walked to the hazy mirror on one wall. She pulled her long straight blond hair back into a few tight pony tails then quickly cut them off with the knife.

She put all the nonperishable food items into a hunting pack. She looked at the large fur covered bed that she and Ruhdrin has shared. She quickly stripped it down, picked the nicest of the furs and started making a cloak from it. The worst of the furs she spent the night separating the fur from the leather it was attached to. From that leather she quickly stitched together a crude armor vest, bracers and shin guards. She picked several pairs of thick shirts and leggings and gathered them as well.

Finally she went to the wall and pulled down her bow and quiver. Glancing at the door she could see the crack was starting to light with the first light of day. She put on the her best clothes, strapped the armor of the top of, slung the quiver over one shoulder then attached the shoulder the pack, the thick fur cloak rolled up and attached at the bottom. Finally she strapped a pair of knives to each shin guard. Satisfied, she walked out into the crisp morning air.

The path leading out of the village was lined with tribe members. All shared the same look of pain and grim determination as they watched her walk to the dog pen. She whistled and a gray and white female strode from the pack of dogs huddled for warmth. Neyah opened the gate and let her out. She whispered down at the dog, “Time to go Cin.” She scratched the dog behind the ear and turned to walk out of the village.

The dog fell into step beside her without any further prompting. The pair strode out of the town with their heads held high. Neyah managed to hold the tears back, never allowing the village to see the pain their decision had brought her. Even once the village was far behind she only allowed herself to shed a single tear, which she wiped quickly away.

Part Six of The Fall is [url=http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-6/:c7d65]ready[/url:c7d65].

The Fall, Part Six

In the days since the battle, Drigzin had stayed close enough to the trio that he could easily track them, but never close enough that he would be spotted. They had no real experience in tracking, or at least in covering their tracks, that much was painfully obvious. A light rain had developed, and to ward it off, Drigzin had slipped his deep hood up. He absently gnawed on a piece of jerked meat of some kind, he thought it probably dog, as he slid through the rough terrain just east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the ruins of Denver.

The first signs of life were sounds echoing off the nearby rock. Soon he came around a rocky spur of the mountains to find the free town of New Boulder before him. A massive sign hung on the rough walls of wood and metal that surrounded the town. In big bright hand painted letters it said, “Welcome to New Boulder”. He could see the town was well guarded, but the gates were standing wide open, so he decided it could not hurt to head in.

The pair of guards standing at the gates narrowed their eyes at his approach and one stepped forward and asked him, “What’s your business here, necrosi?” The rain poured over the man’s poncho. The same poncho covered the top of a rifle of some sort, just the barrel poking out to point in the necrosi’s direction.

Drigzin shrugged gently, “Just wandering, thought I would come see what New Boulder had to offer a weary traveller. Maybe get out of the rain.” He smiled ever so slightly and laced his fingers.

The two guards glance at each other, then the more bold of the two nodded, and waved him in. “Fine, but stay out of trouble.” Drigzin nodded and slid between them, walking slowly into the crowded town.

The problem with being both this close to a ruin the size of Denver, and being charged with the safety of a not inconsiderable amount of people meant that New Boulder was small, cramp, but well defended and was not insubstantial, if not ad hoc in its construction. This meant that once Drigzin passed through the gate, he was suddenly surrounded by all manner of people, both human, mutant, and evolved. Even a few obvious AIs made their way through the mass of people.

The buildings of New Boulder were built up over the years. Drigzin could see that perhaps the place had once been an industrial park, for larger corporate looking structures dominated the small town, but they had long ago stopped being hallowed buildings of technology firms and advanced industry and were now subdivided into multi-use buildings for shopping, eating, and sleeping.

Between the large old corporate structures, large swathes of shanty town like construction meant a densely packed population of tents, huts, hovels, and the like. Large catwalks spanned between purposely smashed out corporate windows, leading to stilt mountains shacks, and tree house like structures built on the massive frames of old power poles, or ancient billboard frames. Rain water streamed down through the overhead building, showering the shanties below and creating rivers of run off in the muddy streets below.

The whole thing made Drigzin’s head spin, and he quickly donned his goggles and earplugs to start drowning out the massive noise and gaudy sites of the bizarre place. He looked up, seeing as many people walking among the catwalks as there were pushing through the crowds of the narrow streets below. Atop the old corporate buildings more structures were erected, some of higher caliber construction, but most looking as if a hard wind would topple them easily.

Drigzin could not help but wish he had kept a hold of his pistols when traveling in such close confines, but he had to leave them behind when he escaped the soldier and her AI companion. The thought brought him back to his task at hand. Finding them in this mass of humanity and non-humanity would be difficult at best. He figured the best bet would be to get a higher perspective, even if that meant getting wetter as the rain got a bit heavier.

Finding a ladder, he quickly mounted a catwalk, then another, constantly scanning the crowds and going higher and higher till he stood atop a massive corporate structure looking down into what had to be the central market of New Boulder. He was scanning the crowd when he heard a bit muffled noise behind him.

Glancing over his shoulder he found that he was facing a small pack of thugs that seemed interested to see him in this particular location.

“You are tresspassing, necro,” a large human growled over the noise of the rain as he stood forward from the rest. He held a large piece of pipe in his hand, and swung it lazily, as if getting used to the weight. It was obvious though that he had more than enough muscle to heft the thing, and it was worn enough that Drigzin assumed he usually carried it.

Behind him and to one side was a mutated fellow, his eyes a sickly yellow color, his fingers ending in claws. To the other side was a guy that had to be half grigori. His skin was a light gray in tone. He carried a large length of chain that he held in both hands. Fully extended, the chain was probably eight feet long.

Drigzin slowly turned around and showed his empty hands. “I don’t wish any trouble. I’ll leave.” He laced his fingers together and let his cloak fall in front of him, covering everything but his head.

The lesser grigori started spinning his chain, “Damn straight you will, the hard way, straight down.” He laughed, and his buddies quickly joined in.

Drigzin decided to waste no more breath. He stepped in, and spun sending rain water in every direction and delivering a crushing roundhouse to the center one of the three. Though the blow whipped the man’s head around, it did not drop him. He recovered quickly, and growled, “Kill ‘im!”

The other two were already moving, trying to get to either side of Drigzin. The necrosi waited for the claw one to begin and attack and was glad to see the original human swinging his pipe out about the same time. The chain wielding lesser grigori seemed to be sizing Drigzin up. It was obvious that he was the largest threat, so Drigzin knew he had to take the others out quickly.

Stepping into the pipe wielder’s swing he caught the man’s arm and swung him around, putting him in the way of the clawed one’s swipe. Drigzin ripped off a quick couple of punches, one knocked the window out of the man with the pipe, and the second sent him reeling back into his clawed buddy.

The two toppled easily over the edge of the rain slicked building.

Drigzin didn’t have enough time to gloat though. The chain whipped out, and wrapped around his neck. The grigori yanked hard, and Drigzen, coughing as his throat was constricted, was pulled back toward the grigori. Small barbs in the chain bit into his skin, mixing his blood with the rain water that streamed down his neck. More importantly it gave the chain enough edges that it easily bound upon itself, making it hard to dislodge.

The necrosi spun just in time to parry the grigori’s free hand that had gone for a knife the moment it was free of the chain. With one hand the grigori pulled on the chain pulling Drigzin off balance, and with the other hand he was going to try and gut the necrosi.

Locked up close now, the two wrestled for control of the knife and chain. The grigori thurst his head forward, smashing it into Drigzin’s face. His vision tunneled, but he managed to keep from blacking out. He gave ground, but the grigori followed closely, keeping the pressure on the chain, and stabbing a few times with the knife. Though it shredded part of his cloak, the knife didn’t manage to pierce Drigzin’s armor. Much more though, and the grigori would find a seam in the armor and the fight would be over.

Drigzin’s back foot slid against the lip on the edge of the roof, and he buckled and spun, twisting and yanking hard on the grigori, hoping to surprise him and flip him off the roof. It worked, but only to a degree. Drigzin’s feet slipped out from under him on the wet roof and he loudly painfully. While the move did manage to send the grigori flying, the man held onto the chain, and Drigzin felt himself yanked down toward the edge. He grabbed the chain with both hands, managing to stop it from pulling him or his head down over the edge, and braced hard as the grigori slammed into the wall and somehow managed to hold onto the chain still.

The grigori’s free hand clawed at the edge, finally finding a hold as his chain wrapped hand pulled hard over and over again, trying to dislodge the necrosi. Drigzin’s vision tunneled again and he knew he was about to pass out. He let go of the chain with one hand and began clawing at the part of the chain wrapped around his neck. The barbs on the chain poked painfully into his skin as he tried to get it unbound, but the wieght of the grigori was keeping the chain tight.  He knew he wouldn’t have time to pull it free though.

His vision tunneled even further and he found himself wondering what his superiors would think happened to him, when his missives from the wilderness stopped coming. The fight seemed almost a distant event. His eyes began to close for longer and longer periods of time. The anger and frustration seemed to bleed away, and he focused on the pain in his neck. It helped him center himself as he gave up the will to fight any longer and closed his eyes.

Apologies for editorial mistakes in a few of the story segments, I don’t have a LOT of time for self editing, but am trying to improve the quality a bit. Anyways, [url=http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-7/:be0b2]part seven[/url:be0b2] is done, as always cross posted from my blog.

The triple crack of the burst from a rapid fire weapon knocked Drigzin from his daze. The chain went slack, and he quickly pulled up onto the top of the roof and clawed the chain from around his neck.

He looked down to the streets below to see standing amidst the three bodies of the thugs that had attacked him was the bio-engineered soldier he had been tracking earlier in the day. She was arguing with a few of the locals, though her weapon was lowered at this point.

Her AI companion stood with her, backing her up in whatever the argument was, and pointing at the roof to make his point about something. Swallowing, as much to make sure he could still as for any other reason, Drigzin shook his head. He had been seconds from death, and only the intervention of the soldier had saved his life.

He was just wondering where the nephilim that had been with the two went when his cloak was grabbed. The nephilim yanked him to his feet, and spun him around.

Terintal was angry. He didn’t want to be here to begin with, and now half of New Boulder was staring at him and his companions, all to save this guy’s life. Well, he had done the same for him once, so he gave him a chance, just not much of one.

“Why were you following us?” Grabbing the front of the necrosi’s armor, Terintal pushed him back, leaning him over the edge of the rooftop. The rain was starting to subside, but the slick roof still made getting their footing treacherous at best.

“Your companion seemed to think me worth saving. You aren’t going to let such a wonderful act of kindness be wasted by dropping me are you?” Drigzin hoped he was getting through to the man.

Instead Terintal leaned him farther over the edge. “Slick roof pal, might drop you even if I don’t mean to… better make with the explanation.”

The necrosi swallowed, his swollen and punctured neck oozed a bit more blood. Finally he muttered, “It is my job. I find interesting things and report back on them.” He looked down, and instantly regretted the decision to do so. “I swear, I mean you no harm.”

“So what…” Terintal shifted his grip trying to make sure he did not drop the necrosi now that he was talking, but his arm and hand were getting tired. “… you’re some kind of reporter? Or spy?” Rain water dripped down all over him, matting his hair and dripped off his nose. As he spoke sprays of the water flew from his lips.

The necrosi shrugged then nodded, “Yes, like that, all rolled into one. Now, could you let me go?”

It was the nephilim’s turn to shrug. “Sure.” He released the necrosi dropping him over the edge. The pale skinned man screamed as he fell out of sight.

Terintal stepped over the edge while muttering a few arcane words. The necrosi’s screams were echoed by the crowd below, watching as the two men plummeted.

The necrosi’s fall slowed and then came to a stop a couple of meters from the ground. His arms were crossed across his face, ready for the impact that never came. He lowered his arms and blinked, bobbng a little as he floated in mid air.

Terintal landed softly beside him then with a quick wave of his hand, the necrosi was released from the telekinetic wielding and dropped with a thud and an “Oomph” to the ground.

Stan stepped up and looked down at the necrosi, watching as the man rolled over. He leaned down and offered him a hand up. Terintal explained to Kaliana, “He is some sort of scout for his kind. They send them out into the wilds to report back what they found. He thinks we are ‘interesting’.”

Kaliana narrowed her eyes and considered just putting a few bullets into him, but decided that it would further endanger their status in New Boulder. Already three locals were dead, and despite the fact that they were not popular men, their deaths were still a case of outsiders killing locals. “He better not follow us any more.”

Terintal shrugged, “He’s good in a fight, and saved my life. I think we should give him a chance.”

Stan piped in while bandaging Drigzin’s neck, “He did handle himself well against multiple opponents, Corporal Hicks. Besides, where we are going we will need all the help we can get.”

Drigzin asked politely, “Do I get a say in the matter?”

Terintal and Kaliana spoke at once, “No.”

Drigzin feigned hurt and turned to Stan for some sort of guidance. Stan just shrugged.

A large argument with the locals later, the group was huddled around a small table in a bar on the southern side of New Boulder. Drigzin was cleaning his newly recovered machine pistols. Kaliana was pouring over a flexible holomap that showed a three dimensional looking map. She would poke at the map, drawing her fingers along it, to zoom, pan, or rotate the map. Stan watched her, and commented now and then at various routes and plans. Terintal was watching the door, and half listening to the conversation.

The map data had been purchased for a nearly a small fortune from a rogue of an information merchant, but his data chip had proven loaded with data, including geographical, former roads, and indications of areas that had actually been explored a few years ago by NWSEC.

Finally Kaliana spotted something on the map she had been looking for. “Here. This is our best way in.”

Terintal looked over and nodded, “Alright, so that solves how we get into the central city, but how does that do us any good? We still don’t know where the cache is.”

Stan nodded, “That would be true, except that the cache has a beacon that I can tap into once I’m closer. If I can get within a mile of the beacon I should be able to find the cache.” He seemed pleased with himself, thought Terintal. He found himself wondering again if this was a built in trait to all AI, or had this particular one programmed some sort of process that made him always seem as if he were superior.

Drigzin looked up and cocked his head to one side. “So what then, we just walk up and knock on the door?”

Kaliana nodded, “Exactly. Stan and I are in the company employee manifest, we should be given entry with no problem. Then we’ll convince the cache’s security program that you guys are alright, and before you know it we will be resupplied, and waiting for a pick up from reinforcements.”

Nearly one thousand miles to the west and slightly north, on the outskirts of Vancouver an explosion of epic proportion rocked the quiet little compound that acted as the main headquarters of Kaliana and Stan’s employers. The explosion was so powerful, buildings to all sides of the compound were leveled as well. In a heartbeat over a thousand people, only half of which had any connection to the company, died.

In a large airship flying slowly toward Los Angeles, a dark form sat quietly watching out the window. A uniformed attendant strode up and saluted. “Sir. We just got word from Vancouver. All went according to plan.” The figure merely nodded, then waved a single hand dismissing the attendant. Everything was falling into place. It would not be long now.

Something a little different for this episode, teaser here, follow the jump for the full version. Tired of copying the whole thing from my blog, and using the blog to track postbacks etc.

Terintal strode into the darkened husk of a ruin, muttering something under his breath. His hands were down, clasped around the grip of a pistol that Kaliana had loaned him. His pupils dilated more than any human’s possibly could so he could make out the area in front of him. There were far too many places for something to hide in the scattered rubble of the ruins. He didn’t like the situation one bit.

Drigzin strode up next to the point where Terintal had entered the rubble strewn building and lay his back flat against the wall. It wouldn’t be long now before he would have his chance. He gripped the small explosive that Kaliana had given him, going over and over in his head the instructions she had given him.

Kaliana and Stan were perched behind a outcropping of reinforced concrete, watching the two men enter the building. It was the fifth one today they had to clear. They knew it had to be done, or the following evening would be just as bad as the previous one had been. No one wanted that.

[url=http://wraithswhispers.wordpress.com/alpha-omega-the-fall/alpha-omega-the-fall-part-8/:60e52]Read the rest of the episode here.[/url:60e52]

Hiatus time! Between Memorial Day weekend, and a trip out of town this weekend, I will not be writing episodes of the Fall for this past Monday or next Monday in all likelihood.

Have a safe happy summer, and I’ll see you all in about two weeks. <!—s:)—>{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif<!—s:)—>

Boingo - 26 May 2009 03:45 AM

Hiatus time! Between Memorial Day weekend, and a trip out of town this weekend, I will not be writing episodes of the Fall for this past Monday or next Monday in all likelihood.

Have a safe happy summer, and I’ll see you all in about two weeks. <!—s:)—>{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_smile.gif<!—s:)—>

Hey there, where is the rest of the story, you can’t leave us hanging like that!