Centre for Interdimensional Studies and Research
UEG Colony World Panorama
April 21, 2841

“But Colonel! You can’t be serious!” Exclaimed Doctor Stuart Travesty, trying to keep up with the fast walking speed of Colonel Calhoun. His labcoat fluttered in the light breeze as the sound of raging waterfalls was heard all through the facility. "We’ve been working on this for months! We were supposed to send an exploration team in for research! And you’re sending in Marines?!”

The power-armoured Colonel didn’t stop. “Correct.” He said simply. His visor had retracted into his helmet, showing his aged and scarred face. “My Marines are the exploration team.”

Dr. Travesty, the Head Researcher of Project RIFTGATE, threw his arms into the air. “You can’t just do that! What if there are other beings on the other side of the portal? What if they think we want war?”

Calhoun scoffed. “Yeah? Do you actually think there are? Give me a break.” He stopped when Travesty rushed ahead of him and blocked his path. “Doctor, what are you doing?” He asked, his voice filled with impatience. He wanted to get this over with, and go back to fighting in the Colonial Uprising. He didn’t want to come here, but he followed orders no matter what.

“And if there are?” Dr. Travesty continued, electing another scoff from the Colonel. “Think of the possibilities! There could be anything on the other side! They might even have weapons beyond our comprehension!”

“Oh yeah?” Calhoun challenged, suddenly whipping out his SHP8 sidearm and aiming it at the Doctor. “Tell that to my gun. Now move, or I’ll shoot you.”

Travesty gulped and dashed ahead to the command area, in an open field right behind the Panorama Centre for Interdimensional Studies and Research. Calhoun sighed and holstered his side arm by the magnetic grips on his armour, and made his way towards the RIFTGATE.

A multitude beeping machines of varying sizes covered the field, sheltered by several tents and metal structures. with the area itself having been laid with a hardcrete cover. However, the one feature that stood out were two massive metal prongs that towered in the air, connected by wires to a plasma reactor. For the time being, it was dark and deactivated, but scientists and researchers sped around the area, trying to avoid men in powered armour and vehicles parked around the area.

Calhoun allowed himself to smile for once. He may not have wanted to come here, but hell, his Marines did a hell good job of setting up. He walked forwards to where Travesty was, and his dropped his smile when the Doctor accidentally spilled his doublecaf all over the floor. He cleared his throat, causing him to turn around. The Doctor showed a look of annoyance, before it quickly turned to one of fear. “Colonel Calhoun! How may I help you?”

“Is it ready?” The Colonel asked immediately, gesturing to the inactive RIFTGATE. Travesty turned back to the computer he was working on and began to rapidly type in some lines of code. “Almost.” He said, the light from the screen reflecting off his glasses. “There… and there!” Several warning lights went off as the prongs seemed to unfold. “We can activate when ready, Colonel.”

Calhoun nodded, walking towards the gathered Marines. The 41st Special Combat Unit was a larger military unit, having more than two thousand men, not to mention the numerous vehicles and Those Winter Sundays, a Colorado-class Heavy Frigate currently hovering several kilometres above the facility. “Listen up, people!” He said, his helmet’s external speakers amplifying his voice. “I know we were kicking some rebel ass, but now, we got a new mission!” All the Marines and several scientists and researchers were paying their fullest attention. “We’re going through a Alternate Reality RIFT Portal into an alternate dimension, whatever that means. I don’t know what’s on the other end, but if it’s hostile, shoot it. Got that?”

He was rewarded with the resounding cries of ‘yes sir’. “Good.” He looked over to Travesty. “Open it up, Doctor.” The Head Researcher was undoubtedly excited, judging by the huge smile on his face. He gave several instructions to a few top researchers, and they all crowded around a control panel. They pushed several buttons, and suddenly, the space between the metal prongs seemed to violently rip and tear open. At first, it was simply a blinding white, before it cleared to reveal a mountainous landscape. Travesty and the research team immediately began to cheer as they celebrated their victory, while Calhoun immediately began to bark orders at the Marines.

“Alright! Marines, enter through the portal! Vehicles and aircraft will follow.” Dozens of men and women all in powered armour streamed through the portal and exited out, securing and surrounding the area. Then the war machines followed, with tanks and armour and vehicles pushing through along with several aircraft, all of which carried even more Marines. Calhoun was one of the last to enter. He checked if the air was safe, before pulling off his helmet and taking a breath. “Well, good to see that it worked.” He turned to the unit’s drone operators. “Launch the recon drones.”

The operators complied and a dozen or more metre-long drones were launched into the air, each one speeding off in a different direction. Next, the Colonel turned to the rest of the Marines. “Alright. Now that we’re through, start setting up a base here. Teams, recon the area.”

Several metal plates were placed onto the ground. Then, they unfolded, connecting with each other as they began to form a rectangular building. This continued until the building resembled an actual military base, a small one, but a base nonetheless. The tanks had began to set up around the perimeter, their turrets scanning the skyline. Recon convoys set off in various directions, each one with a recon team of Marines and several more vehicle crews.

All in all, things were going well.

Gabanre was just done with climbing a giant mountain and killing some trolls when a gigantic portal appeared. He saw things beyond his knowlegde. He saw somekind of massive white thing on wheels. Then he saw more then 100 metal engulfed man coming out of the portal. As he saw that he thought that he should check it out. And thus he went there. Once there he saw more then that, he saw things he had never seen. As he approached the weirdness, he saw somekind of leader and thought that he should do something about it.

Azrez is very far away, trying to find people with power to fight, he will come into play later

Cecelia entered through the gate alongside the others, but wasn't as excited as everyone around her. She was known for her sniping abilities, but that's about it in this RIFT squadron. She's just a sharpshot with a big gun to them. As part of the recon group sent to scout the area surrounding the base site, Cecelia stayed in the company rear, covering whenever the squad stopped. A strange being, a humanoid with scales, was in the distance- about 200km by her best guess from scope sight- and was headed towards the base camp site. Radioing base command, Cecelia gave description, location, and trajectory as thus:

"Base Command, this is 101st's recon. Unknown, scaled humanoid approaching base. 200km North-northwest travelling about 6.2km/h. Be advised: equipped, but not armed. No guns in sight, just a sword."

"That's a negative, 101 Recon. I've got nothing on the scopes." COMMs Officer Brandon Harley informed, standing in behind several monitors and a small holographic pedestal. The COMMs area was hastily set up, with only a few pieces of equipment in the still-assembling firebase. He checked the scanners, and noticed an unidentified blip. "Be advised, I've got an unknown life sign at that position. Could be just some form of wildlife. Proceed with caution. Command out." He looked out one of the windows to see that there was a rising cloud of dust as recon teams headed off in their vehicles.

Each recon convoy was comprised of a SLV31 Pitbull Scout/Transport Vehicle, a LAV32 Puma Light Attack Vehicle, and a Goblin ATLAV Attack Scout. The convoy wasn't meant for direct combat, but were armed with enough munitions to ward off any potential hostiles. They were used all the times on worlds were war was waging. One such convoy was currently cruising through this brave new world. Thanks to the Pitbull's amazing suspension systems, the journey was smooth, with just a few bumps here and there. Its passengers, meanwhile, were chewing the scenery.

"Blimey!" An Australian-accented voice exclaimed. "I haven't seen sights like this Dover!" Specialist William Turf sat at the back, his BXR-12 by his side and his helmet in his lap as he stared out like a toddler. He was known for his excellent aim, so it was no wonder he was a Designated Marksman He was decked out in a set of Recon powered armour.

"I agree with you completely!" Another voice said, this one belonging to Private First Class Dexter 'Rook' Bitters. He kept his helmet on, but his visor was up, his face mirroring Turf's. He was currently cradling his M453 Squad Automatic Weapon in his arms. Its twin barrels spat out white-hot 8.41x63mm rounds at a ridiculous rate. He was wearing the Support variant of regular armour.

"Nah. I've seen better on Avalon." This one didn't sound very impressed, and it came from a Marine wearing Standard-issue grey armour sitting next to the driver. He held onto his ACAR-38 as he stared out the vehicle's ballistic glass, his face unreadable under his helmet. Corporal Desmond 'Traction' Harper wasn't exactly the friendliest type. Not since he was forced by his family to abandon his dreams of racing back on his homeworld of Tarmac. He was always bitter for that.

"Aw, come on, Tract. We're in a whole new world! It's like a vacation every time we go on a deployment. Except we're normally getting shot at, and always getting shouted at." Staff Sergeant Axel 'Riff' Clifton said, clutching onto the steering wheel. He wasn't human, and it was more obvious when he took off his helmet for all to see his glowing blue photoreceptors. Other than that, he looked completely human in every shape and form, and he would've passed off for one without his armour were it not for his inhuman strength. "Do you think we'll see any... I dunno, cat chicks around here?" And of course, there was his flirtatious attitude. He liked to hit on any girl he could find, even though he was an android. He tried, anyway. Together, the four of them made up Fireteam Castle, one of three such teams in Strike Recon Squad Alpha-4, 'Typhoon' as it was designated.

The convoy continued cruising down an oddly beaten path, kicking up a large amount of dust on their way.

In the forests surrounding the quaint town of Norton, life lavishly continued. Despite the frequent lumber operations that occurred in the area, the woods expanded and grew faithfully with each passing season, invigorated by the natural magic that suffused the earth itself. The endless canopy of green swayed with the morning winds, dew shining upon the leaves as the sun rose above. By a small pond, a ibak drank its fill from the earth's providence, lapping from the watering hole to quench the thirst that had come with its awakening as the pronged horns upon its head jutted proudly into the air.

But, from the brushes proximal to it, a powerful predator eyed its prey with greedy delight. A large, scorpion tail waved silently in the air as the tensed, muscled limbs of a lion readied to pounce. Two bat-like wings trembled in anticipation as the carnivore finally took its chance, pouncing from its concealed position towards the unprotected left flank of the ibak, revealing itself to be a mantcore of a ripe age. With the twin calls of a harried bleat of fear and roar of triumph, claws quickly reached their prey, victory within reach... When suddenly a hand took hold of the ibak's right antler and tugged the herbivore out of the predator's path. With no cushion of meaty flesh to stop it, the manticore could not unfurl its wings fast enough to avoid crashing into the waters instead. Landing in a decidedly regal manner, the manticore turned to face its prey, snarling with tempered rage as it was rewarded by the figure of a human who had become a familiar sight within the territory.

Said human sent the manticore a sly grin, running her hand through the soft pelt of the ibak's neck. A calming gesture, but also a taunt for the predator if it had ever seen one. "Now, now, Canti," the human started, facial expression becoming vulpine as mischievous intentions lathered her feminine voice, calling upon the manticore's name with the undertone of a growl. "Hunting more than needed? Your third hunt before mid-sunrise... greedy. Am I wrong?"

Hammer wielded in one hand, Amma Stormborn stood before the manticore, denying him of his newest meal. She turned her head to the ibak, seeming to have dismissed Canti with the motion as her dialect sliped into the meticulous baying of the deer-like creatures. "Flee, Shakuntala. I will not save you again from ignorance. Your herd searches for you." The ibak lowered her head in deference as she replied with a terse but honest, "Thank you," then pranced away into the foliage that Canti once skulked within. Throughout the entire exchange, Canti chose to do nothing. He did not come to fight over a meal that was only meant to satify his desire for hunting.

"You stopped me, Speaker," he finally growled as his prey disappeared from view, using one of the many names the creatures of the wild used for her specifically. Glancing at the carnivore, she tipped her head in agreement.

"Find a new hobby. Prey has been scarce."

"Then why are you here?"

"So it doesn't get worse."

"Lies," Canti's amusement breaks way through his irritation, suffusing his growls with levity. "Wanderlust never fades, does it?"

Amma's superior smirk widens to a smile. "Well, you're not wro-"

The conversation was cut off by a quick blur of movement that caught both of their attentions, claws unsheathing from furred paws as steel weapon was grasped in both hands, human and manticore turning as one to meet the threat...

And confronted a hummingbird, who had quickly stilled as it wrestled with its fear and duty.

The tension was lost as quickly as it came, Canti beginning to groom himself as the avian recovered from its temporary shock, coming to rest upon the human's shoulder to chirp softly into her ear as she lowered her hammer. It's become commonplace to see a small creature of some kind appearing before the Stormborn, informing her of important happenings and developments. Most likely, it was one of those "messengers" that had notified the human of Shakuntala's absence from her herd.

As the hummingbird took flight once more, having delivered its message, Amma strapped her hammer into a holster upon her back and stretched her legs as if preparing for a hundred meter dash. Intrigued, Canti lifted his head from his personal grooming to observe the human. "What is it?" he finally asked, the hermit having fully limbered her body and prepared to leave. "Strange appearances nearby, apparently metal golems arrived through a magic passageway. Moving to observe." As she left the watering hole in a breakneck sprint, the manticore eloped from the area moments later, flecking water aside with each stride he took. As tempting as it was, there was no reason to follow the Stormborn. Despite her uptake of pacifism in recent years, her record has been full of life-threatening events that outstrip anyone he knew. No matter what mantle she wore, it's been a universal fact that danger followed the Stormborn's footsteps.

The calm and serene quiet of the forest a fair distance from the portal save for the chirping of a few birds was destroyed by the loud and rumbling heavy-duty hydrogen engine of a Pitbull currently cruising down a natural street made by the parting of trees. Its thick rubber tyres kicked up a large cloud of soil and rocks and grass as it sped through the undergrowth. Inside, some ancient music was blasting over the vehicle's stereo system as its driver floored the accelerator. Sergeant Caleb Everett, or known as Riot for his previous work as a riot officer on Circumstance had one hand on the wheel while the other tapped the vehicle's bulletproof polyglass perfectly in sync with the beat. "Ha ha! Now this is more like it!" He laughed, his helmet off and his ACAR-38 by his side.

Corporal Arsen 'Quake' Calder couldn't agree more. "I'm so glad you dug these tunes out! It's the perfect song to blow stuff up!" He, of course, was his team's demolition expert who had an unhealthy obsession with gigantic explosions, and even now he was tossing a 47mm grenade up and down, a G15 SGL Grenade Launcher sitting on his lap. The launcher could launch self-propelled homing grenades a fair distance, and it was considered a game changer in firefights.

Behind, a rather brooding Marine in typical Recon armour devoid of colour sat hugging his SR2991 Railgun Sniper Rifle. Unlike conventional human-made weapons which relied on coil propulsion systems to launch projectiles, the SR2991 used a much more powerful rail propulsion system that could lob a .62 caliber round at a few kilometres per second up to eight kilometres. "It's alright. I would've preferred something quieter, but this'll do." Specialist Garvan 'Alley' Stillman commented. He wasn't exactly the most talkative, and was about to go back to his quiet contemplation when the Marine sitting next to him slapped his shoulder.

"Aw, come on, Alley. This reminds me of all the times I went on road trips with my dad!" Specialist Lance 'Fuse' Gannon said. He was the team's combat engineer, and he was the one who helped move everyone around on missions. As someone who was expected to run into hostiles a lot while constructing, he carried an AUTS-29 Automatic Utility Tactical Shotgun. The poor bastard on the other end normally expected a 10 gauge slug to the face. "It is a whole new world, after all." Driving through an unknown forest in an unknown world with no idea where you're going?

Just another Tuesday for Strike Force Recon Team Hammer.

They were the guys who scouted out enemy territory and sabotaged vital equipment, before disappearing like they weren't there. They were also deadly, with a mix of ranged and close combat. The music and vehicle continued, until something small dashed past the vehicle. "Whoa! Shit!" Riot swerved, but the Pitbull's accident prevention system prevented it from crashing. He took a breath and continued on. "Damn animals."

He wasn't laughing when a large beast suddenly crossed paths with the Pitbull. This caused him to slam the brakes, but it was too late. The creature felt the full impact of a 5.3 ton vehicle speeding at a few dozen kilometres an hour. The animal was flung a fair distance as the Pitbull veered off-course, and its passengers were rocked around before it finally came to a stop.

"What was that?" Riot coughed, slipping his helmet on and running out the door with his rifle out. Quake was the next to exit. "Dunno, man. Some kind of big cat."

"What? Like a puma?" Fuse asked, exiting but standing next to the vehicle. Alley was the last to come out, and as soon as he did, he sighed. "That thing's too big to be a puma, jackass." He turned to survey the damage, and was pleased to know that the Pitbull's composite duratanium armour had taken the whole impact, and was barely dented save for maybe a broken headlight.

Up ahead, Riot was bent over the unmoving creature. He poked it with the tip of his gun, but received no response. Unsure of what to do, he activated his COMMs. "Uh, Command? This is Strike Force Recon Team Hammer. I've just crashed into some unidentified creature. Uh..." He inspected it, noticing its wings and tail for the first time. "Looks like a manticore from those old myths."

There was a pause for a few seconds. "Hammer Team, please confirm." Riot did so, spreading its wings and picking up its scorpion-like tail. "Command, creature has bat wings and a scorpion tail. Resembles a lion."

Another pause. "Hammer Team, is the creature alive?"

"I'm not sure. Doesn't seem like it's breathing."

"Copy that. Please take some samples when available. Command out."

Riot sighed and took out his combat knife. "Well, here goes nothing."

"Don't you touch it fool!" A voice called out from a distance. A few seconds later a loud crash against the dirt road was heard before a menacing figure appeared from the side of the convoy. The figure walked quickly and with an intent of hostility towards the group of marines that surrounded the alien. Just from his stride they probably could already tell it was Zeron, that and his overly menacing helmet was unlike any Marines that entered the portal.

"Get away from it meat shields! Leave the work to the Professionals." Zeron scolded, as his shoulder made contact with Riot. While it didn't shove him aside as intended, the impact made him take a step back. Zeron crouched down to the Manticore and tagged it. A sharp thin needle that carried translucent cards that processed data. He then put a needle into the beast to extract a blood sample.

While the blood was filling the vial in his hand, he turned his head to the group of Marines. "Congratulations! Not even an hour on this planet and you already taken out some form of life. Not record breaking I assume...You can continue your mission. I won't be far behind."

15 Minutes prior

"I do not care what you want me to do, I am heading with the Recon convoy! I will not let your man cause a muck when we haven't even established a FOB or even seen intelligent lifeforms. Further more if they find anything worth noting I will be the ones taking notes. Do you think im a foo-"

Zeron was cut off by the sight of the Recon Convoy already taking off without him. Zeron walked away from the Lieutenant, heading to his vehicle that was just a few meters away. As he approached the vehicle, he tapped something that he could only seen in front of him and the back ramp to his ATML-Bronco began to lower. Before he could enter, the Lieutenant rushed in behind him."Yeah right! You will comply or ill have you brought back in cuffs Altima!" The Lieutenant yelled as the ramp was slowly closing behind Zeron.

You can definitely try LT...

The Mobile lab burned out of the their drop point. The All Terrain Mobile Lab contained everything that Zeron needed to survey the planet. It was quite fast for the armor it held, but contained no real defenses. It only took a few minutes to catch up with the convoy, yet he purposely kept a little away. If they were to get assaulted by some unknown force, he would be free to leave and report back. That and he didn't trust the Marines driving so close to him.

Just before Riot could slice off some skin, he was interrupted by the sight of a figure wearing powered armour, but not those issued to Marines. He wore black and orange armour, and was carrying a sword for some reason. Who even carried those things? "Hey, man. Who the hell-" He was cut off by the man shoving him a step back. "Hey!" Riot angrily cried, before the man jabbed a needle into the beast. "What the hell, man? I have orders to-"

Of course, Riot was once again interrupted by the man sarcastically congratulating them for probably turning the first living creature they encountered into instant roadkill. "Gee, thanks. We're Recon. It's what we do." Hammer Leader quipped, rolling his eyes under his helmet. Then he noticed that his HUD was telling him that the man in question was a mercenary. "Oh, great." He groaned in annoyance. "A fucking mercenary." He turned to Quake and began to discuss the consequences of hiring a merc. "Who even hired this asshole?"

Quake shrugged. "Dunno, sarge. Higher-ups must've lost their minds again." The last time the UEGNC hired a mercenary, he allowed an entire company of Marines to die just to achieve his objectives, and Riot knew most of them. But was the mercenary ever charged? No. He was given a pat on the back and a million credits. It was pretty much the reason Marines typically hated mercenaries. "So what do you think?"

"I don't trust him." Alley spoke, his voice no higher than usual. "We were supposed to be scouting alone." The man was shifting between scanning his surroundings, the animal, and the mercenary. The only people in the current area were Hammer Team and the mercenary, along with their respective vehicles.

Fuse nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean, who the hell does he think he is?" He sounded rather angry. "Coming in and stealing our job? What the fuck..."

Riot grunted and turned back to the merc. "Fine. Do what you want, but we have orders. And I don't want any goddamned mercenary wrecking our shit and taking all the credit." He led his team back to the Pitbull, angrily shoving past the mercenary. "Keep your distance."

@Hostile@Thecrash20

The light, constant sound of tempered breathing filled Amma's ears, accompanying the soft crunch of leaves and branches underfoot as she raced across the treeline. She knew, if she focused, that the stamping of heavy paws copying her rhythm aways behind belonged to Canti. A small smile graced her features, comforted by the presence of the powerful predator. If anything went wrong, there wasn't much more threatening than a full-grown manticore within this side of Ceas. Hopefully, she could enlist the aid of the skyeels that traversed the riverbed and clouds above before she encountered the metal golems. Their lightning magic was swifter than her spear, and all the more deadly.

Strangely, there was another sound that slowly entered her senses. A rumbling, unfamiliar sound that reminded her of steel impacting stone. And it was getting louder, as if it was- The Stormborn's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as she understood her train of thought, throwing herself to the side just as a giant, grey beast of metal seemed to have suddenly appeared in her path, speeding by the area she had been moments earlier. Wiping sweat from her forehead after witnessing her close shave with death, another point of importance struck her mind as a terrible screeching followed by a loud "thud" sounded out in the woods seconds later.

She had a tail. A tail that had just been attacked by the strange, metal beast if her ears had not deceived her.

Frantically, she pulled herself up from the ground, breaking into a sprint the moment she regained her bearings towards the source of the twin noises. As she drew closer, voices became faintly audible, becoming clearer with each step she took. Taking advantage of the conversation, Amma stalked into the surrounding foliage, blending into the background seamlessly as her eyes landed upon four of the metal golems she was notified by, the metal beast from before... and the barely heaving body of her former ally.

She hadn't known Canti very well, having only met the manticore a few months ago as she settled within the wilderness of Norton. They crossed paths multiple times in the past, but had only made brief conversation. She deeply regretted not learning more about the beast before he died. Blight, she couldn't even give him a proper sendoff with the golems taking watch over his corpse. Some "Friend to All Creatures" she was, the sarcastic thought screwed into her brain.

With nothing else she could possibly do, Amma witnessed the arrival of another of the strange golems, overhearing each conversation clearly from her hiding place within the brushes. Their surprisingly accurate imitations of the human form and language unnerved the hermit, especially the mentions of "Teams", "mercenaries", and even conventional swearing. It was as if these golems were actually sentient, capable of thinking of other things besides simple commands and ideas.

Hopefully they would leave soon, and took their metal creature with them so she could transfer Canti's body where it belonged. And later, when what needed to be done was finished, she could find the golems again to interrogate why they had come.

This time, she would bring her Spear as well. Blood for blood, after all.

"Guys, come on. We're leaving." Riot told his team as he opened the door to the Pitbull. "Dropship's gonna be here in a while. Picking up that 'manticore'." He got back into the vehicle and surveyed the damage. No warnings or alerts came up, meaning that the vehicle had taken no damage whatsoever. He was pleased with that; it meant he didn't have to do any paperwork this time. Quake followed, his visor retracting into his helmet, showing his rather grizzled face, with a small amount of stubble and blue eyes. "Yeah. Eggheads back at base are probably gonna have a field day with that." He chuckled, climbing into the Pitbull and slamming the door, lighting up a cigarette inside and puffing out some smoke out the window.

The other two members of Hammer didn't follow just yet, with Fuse still inspecting the body of the creature. "Shame. It looked pretty awesome, to be honest. Well, not as awesome as a sandstrider, but, well..." Sandstriders were these large lizard creatures found native to Fuse's homeworld of Arenoso, but were introduced to various other planets. They could be tamed and domesticated, with locals using them for mounts, sports, and even meals sometimes. The only problem with them was that they were carnivores, meaning that they got rather rowdy when hungry, and could easily tear prey to shreds with their three rows of sharp teeth.

Alley was standing around, and he looked tense. "Feels like we're being watched." He said, anxiously scanning the area and pointing his weapon in various directions. Motion detectors hadn't picked up anything other than Hammer and the mercenary, and sometimes random wildlife. But then again, Alley was always the paranoid type, so it was expected from him when he stood in one place for too long.

The heavy rumbling of a DTT-143 Dropship could be heard in the distance as it neared the area, no doubt to pick up the corpse of the fallen manticore. It closed in and swooped down, the large thirty metre craft blocking out some sunlight as it hovered in the air above the trees, its repulsor engines glowing blue. It deployed a vaguely claw-looking appendage connected to a cable as it was winched down, picking up the broken body. The claw then retracted, bringing the body up as it was stored in the craft's troop bay. That done, it sped off back to base.

>Creature 1
>Species: Unknown. Designated 'Manticore'
>Planet Origin: Unknown. Contains RBC's that are similar to Earth life.
>Species: Unknown. Similar to Genus-Panthera.
>Sex: Male
>Danger Level: Presumed Extremely Dangerous.
>Weakness: Unknown. Documented 1 effective tactic: Vehicular Ramming.
>First Encountered: 41st Special Combat Unit-Strike Force Recon-Team Hammer.

Zeron ripped off one of the cards that hanged off the tag that was implanted in the Manticore. One for the Scientist and one for his reports. Before he could even enter his mobile lab, the creature was already lifted off and taken away. Damn it... Before he could contact the drop ship to allow him some more time, warnings began to flash over his HUD.



Zeron sighed. Of course. It would be too easy to just leave after taking a sample, the easiest part of his job. He moved out of his vehicle and stopped the Marines from leaving just yet. Calling out to the marines, Zeron spoke in a more serious tone "Listen up Devil Donuts, their may be more than just this species. While it might been a lone wolf, standby for more of those abominations to approach. I don't care for your mission let alone lives, but my friendly advice is you ready for some fight..."

Zeron showed his seriousness by unsheathing his sword. A sharp electric noise and spark arose from his sheath as the red blade was released from its hold. Electricity traveled all around the blade and even miniature lightning stikes struck the dust in the air, giving the blade a steaming effect. He lowered it the floor, setting the grass around into small flames.

Off his right shoulder a camera began to project a blue beam the slowly scanned the surroundings. If more of these beasts waited to strike they would be horrible surprised...

@Hostile@Xiro Zean

Riot scoffed. "Yeah, right. There's nothing here." He grumbled, starting up the vehicle. "Nothing on the scanners except us. Relax, I'm pretty sure no animal can survive an 8.41x63mm round to the face." Hammer Leader noticed that the merc had drawn some sort of power sword, and he rolled his eyes at the sheer ridiculousness of the concept. "Really. You don't have any guys? What kind of retard are you?"

His taunts were interrupted by Fuse. "Guys, I don't mean to bother you or anything, but I think something's in the bushes." He was staring at the several bushes near the group. He was aiming his shotgun at it, and his HUD was giving him alerts of an unknown lifeform in the area. Impatient, Riot climbed out and slammed the door, drawing his rifle. He switched off the safeties and stalked to the location. "I'm so tired of this bullshit." He grumbled as he and his team slowly walked to the source, weapons drawn and safeties off.



"Alpha Base, this is Vulture Delta 556. I'm coming in with the cargo." The Vulture pilot informed over his craft's inbuilt radio as he neared the base. Then, he vectored the vehicle's thrust to hover directly overhead, before slowly descending as he deployed its landing gear. He felt the steady decrease of attitude and eventual soft bump as the Vulture touched the ground. That done, he tapped a few buttons on its dashboard, causing the ramp that led to the troop bay to lower. Several researchers rushed in and wheeled out the body of the manticore.

"I can't believe it! Your men encounter an new alien species, and they crash into it." Dr. Travesty spoke with contempt in his voice as he stared at the unmoving body. Unbeknownst to Travesty, however, Calhoun was smiling under his helmet. Those were his Marines, all right. "Doctor, I'm sure it was an accident." He walked towards the body. "Not like we can do anything about it." Travesty looked like he was sulking as a few other men in suits took scans.

Then, all of a sudden, the creature made a sound that was halfway between a pained whimper and a dry cough. The men immediately jumped backwards as the manticore twitched. "That thing's still alive!" Travesty cried. Calhoun stared at it for a second, before pulling out his sidearm and aiming it at the creature. "Not for any more."

However, just before the Colonel could fire, Travesty suddenly shoved his pistol arm away. "No!" In the confusion, Calhoun discharged a shot, but the .62 caliber round had smashed into the ground instead, and the thunderous clap of the round breaking the sound barrier a few times rang out through the land. "What the hell, Doctor?!" Calhoun screamed as he aimed his SHP8 right between the Doctor's eyes.

To his surprise, however, Travesty didn't move or even flinch, and instead defiantly stood there. "I won't let you do this, Colonel. I've dedicated my life to science. But if you kill me, it'll all be for the good of science."

Colonel Calhoun's trigger finger twitched, before he reluctantly holstered his gun. "...Fine. One more time, and I'll shoot you." He finally growled out, storming away. Travesty breathed a sigh of relief as he turned back to the speechless researchers. "Get the specimen to the medlab. Get those wounds patched up, then put it in a containment cell." The men did as told, pushing the stretcher that was suspended a metre off the ground by a small hoverlift. Lifts like those allowed various vehicles to float off the ground, neglecting the need to clear a path. They were also more or less completely silent, with just a very soft hum emitting off the smaller ones.



"I'm booooooooored." Rook whined as he idly stared out the window of Fireteam Castle's Pitbull. Their convoy was now cruising down a rocky road in a valley, having seen nothing for the past hour but mountains and trees and streams. It was understandable, really. Rook was the youngest and newest member of the team, and he was used to running around while taking shots back in the Outer Colonies, and it was a sudden change from a war-torn environment to an absurdly peaceful and calm place within the span of a few days.

"Shut up, Rook. We're all bored here." Riff said, staring out the windscreen. "Nothing's going on here." He looked behind him, and saw that Turf was fast asleep and Traction seemed to be lost in thoughts as he fiddled with his rifle. The android sighed, then snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea. How about some music?"

"Oh, no. If it's those ancient tunes again, I'd rather kill myself."

"Too late." Riff's eyes flashed green as he synced with the vehicle, and the sound of music began to fill the interior, replacing the dull drone of tyres kicking up the ground.



"Oh, god." Rook groaned as he put his helmet back on in an attempt to block out the music, ignoring the rather trollish grin plastered on his sergeant's face as the android sang along.



Traction didn't seem to mind, in fact, he seemed to enjoy the music while Turf had woken up. He seemed indifferent. "Come on. It's not that- oh." The vehicle came to a stop on top of a hill in between some large rocks. It would have been a nice view, were it not for the clearly human-made structures at the bottom. "What?" Riff got out, rubbing his photoreceptors to see if they were working correctly. "Is that really there?"

"Yep." Turf confirmed, staring down the scope of his rifle. "There doesn't seem to be- oh, bloody hell." He stared in astonishment as he slowly lowered his rifle.

"What?" Riff asked, intrigued as he zoomed in with his photoreceptors, then noticed why. "Oh, fuck."

There, milling around in the settlemen Strangely enough, they seemed to be running in every direction t, were humans. And it seemed like they were getting attacked by some bandits, judging the primitive armour and weapons they used. They were getting cut down by the bandits one by one as defences tried to hold them back.

Azrez saw massive white armor things. They were like carts but way bigger, and the men in it where wearing some kind of armor aswell.

It was at that point he saw bandits raiding them, and he could only think to kill. He took out his scythe and started running as fast as he could. At the time he got there he saw lots of bandits and some of those armored guys. He knew that the armored guys would not live through this, but he was curious about them and thus he decided to fight with them.

He saw fear on the bandits faces, as they saw who he was. He started going crazy, his sword chopping through the bandits as if they were some twigs. He chopped one in half, the other right through his face. The next one tried to stab him in the back, as he did a barrel roll to dodge he let out a furious scream. Then a black cloudy gas appeared, and the bandits whom breath it in went insane. They started to kill other comarades and shouted weird things. He continued on chopping through and fighting with his magic and swords. When he got hit by an arrow his armor just blocked it and he went on. After a while, with some help of the armor dudes, most of them were dead, and if they were not dead, they fled in fear. He took of his helmet and said: "So who are you guys, I am Azrez van Houten, Breather of Madness" You would hear some respect in his voice.