The soldiers all had a badge of a Hammer wreathed in flame on their arms, with a number underneath it. This signaled they were part of the 254 ^ th hell hammers infantry division, the number below the image was their squad number; it was the same number 4 on all uniforms.
Before they boarded the shuttle, Commander Angel spoke to them. “Our communications team and the Furious have tried to contact the colony. But we have still had no response. So we don’t know what is down there until we land, I need everyone to be extra vigilant, understood?”
Everyone nodded, “yes sir.”
Together they boarded the shuttle. Rennick sat in the pilot’s seat, with Angel opposite him. Michael and the rest of the team were sat on seats that ran the length of the interior of the shuttle.
One of the small shuttle bay doors opened, revealing the ruddy coloured planet below, flecks of white cloud dotted the atmosphere below them.
The tiny shuttle slowly lifted up off the bay floor and accelerated out of the shuttle bay, and out into space.
Out of the small view port in the rear access hatch the awesome shape of the Ulysses could be seen gradually getting smaller, together with its escorting cruisers.
In the cockpit, there was a large window that ran its length where the atmosphere of the planet below could be seen rapidly becoming larger, as the shuttle closed in on its destination.
The windows on all the shuttles were made of a thick, toughened, heat resistant polycarbonate, and it had a small Gatling laser which provided it with limited defence in case of attack.
The shuttle began to shudder violently as it entered the atmosphere of the planet, flames played across the cockpit window as the heat of the atmospheric entry continued to increase.
The shuddering continued unabated, and the occupants were constantly jostled in their seats. Michael silently prayed they would make it through entry. He never did know why, but it always seemed to unnerve him. Rennick and Angel looked as calm as if they were walking the park however, they had done this a thousand times, where Michael had not.
Deep down he knew the shuttles’ 5cm thick bonded titanium hull would protect him.
Within minutes the shuttle had cut through the atmosphere of Agemman. Two small wings folded out from the underside of the shuttle for atmospheric flight.
As they headed towards the surface, they could see the blasted, smoking, charred remains of the colony pockmarked by craters all around it. From this altitude they couldn’t make out any signs of movement on the ground.
“Jesus; must have been one hell of a fight here too,” Rennick said, remembering the slaughter at Bravo Gamma base. Angel touched a control and the shuttles’ hydraulic landing legs began to lower. Shortly thereafter the shuttle gently touched down on the surface.
The rear access hatch of the shuttle blew, releasing the pressurised air within with a hiss, and slowly lowered. The nine people onboard exited the shuttle and the troop division members quickly fanned out to form a defensive perimeter.
Now that they were on the surface, what they witnessed shocked them all to the core. It was like witnessing the aftermath of an atomic blast.
Buildings everywhere were razed to the ground, rubble lay strewn across cracked, blasted streets. In the distance some of the buildings were still smouldering, which Micheal realised, they must have seen in flight.
The stench of smoke, death, and rotting meat lay everywhere, as bodies of men, women, and children were intermingled with the debris.
Michael let out an involuntary gasp and gripped his pulse rifle; sure the E.D. F had endured its fair share of pirate attacks. But nothing like this; this was wholesale slaughter.
Michael again felt sick to his stomach, especially looking at the maggot infested human wreckage laid all about the once busy streets; he tried not to think about it.
The landing party forced themselves to press on.
“We need to get to the colony hub,” Commander Angel said to the rest of the group. “Maybe there we will be able to find out who did this; follow me.”
They pressed on up what appeared to be a dusty major road, strewn with impact craters, rubble, and debris. On either side of this road, blackened, bombed out shops and buildings stood as testament to the destruction.
Michael noticed how quiet it was, not a moan or cry could be heard, not even an animal call or birdsong. It was deathly silent. It unnerved him.
Sergeant Clayton walked over to a large metallic looking object that glinted in the sun, catching his eye. The closer he got, the stranger it appeared. He tried to roll it over with his boot; it was far too heavy. Slinging his weapon over his shoulder he bent down, and with an effort managed to push it over.
What greeted him was the horrendous face of one of the aliens.
“Holy shit!” he shouted in panic, as he fell scrabbling on his backside. “You guys had better come over here,” he said as he tried to regain his composure.
The rest of the landing party hurried across the road to his position and when they arrived they saw a large being, clad in a kind of silvery body armour from its hip to its neck. Its face was reptilian; almost draconic in nature, and was a deep green colour. Its eyes had a rusty red hue to them.
The teeth looked sharp and pointed; and its legs and thighs were also armoured, however all of this armour appeared to be grafted directly onto the alien’s skin. There were three large tears in its armour at waist height, and a thick milky white ooze seeped out from its wounds.
“What the hell is it?” Angel said.
“Well it definitely isn’t human,” Michael replied.
“No shit, Sherlock!” Rennick said with a shake of his head.
One of its hands passed a close resemblance to a human hand; however it was larger and ended in small sharp claws. The other arm disappeared into a large complex cannon like weapon, with several wires and gauges built onto it. This also appeared to be grafted into the alien’s skin in places.
Lieutenant Commander Janos looked closer at the alien, and pulled out a medical scanner from a pouch on his belt. He passed the scanner over the alien.
“I’m not picking up any life signs, its definitely biotechnological anyway; similar to the Cerberus project the Americans tried before the formation of E.O.C.A.”
“What was the Cerberus project?” Michael asked.
“Project Cerberus was a top secret military project ran by the American government around 2025; it was an attempt to create biotechnological soldiers that could withstand far greater damage than conventional troops. With the hope of reducing casualties in a land war; however the project was cancelled,” Commander Angel replied.
“Why was the project cancelled Commander?”
Janos cut in, “ethical reasons mainly, human rights activists got wind of it; also the biological parts of the test subjects kept rejecting the technology, causing mortality rates to be too high.”
He turned and looked at the body in appreciation. “But this is far more advanced; I’d like to return it to the ship for further study Commander.”
“Sorry I can’t do that Lieutenant, we need to find out what’s behind the attacks, and how they did it. Besides we don’t know if there are any more of these things around, our best bet is still the colony hub,” Angel replied emphatically.
They left the body and continued up the road, although with a heightened degree of caution now.
Onboard the Ulysses, orbiting high above the planet surface; the bridge crew were busily monitoring the landing party, gathering pictures and evidence of the destroyed colony; as well as pictures of the dead alien.