As the boarding craft was approaching the barren ship, Sergeant Major Pattus handed me an earpiece. “What’s this?” “It will let you talk to the ships AI and he will be able to feed us information as we work.” I was not aware that the ship had an AI onboard. When I was in the fleet everything was done by hand and with personnel. “He? I was not aware that Atlas II had an AI onboard. I will be terminating the AI when I get back to the ship. There is no need for it, we are humans, masters of our own fate. Not to be guided by a computer that thinks it is human.” The Sergeant Major let out a small chuckle and tapped his ear. I put the earpiece in and heard nothing. “Twenty seconds till touch down, make ready marines.” the mic from the cockpit chimed in to let the boarding party know. As the ship approached the docking bay the shields allowed us to pass through and land. Before I opened it everyone started screaming at me not to. I had a feeling that the crew of this ship breathed air as well simply based on the ships design, especially with sealed ports and windows as well as a hanger with a shield cover.

I pressed the open button on the rear hatch, when the seal was broken a hissing sound screeched across the hanger. There was air inside, I stepped out into the hanger and it smelled like motor oil and alcohol. The floor inside the hangar had a similar structure to that of our own ship. “Sir!!! Let the marines secure the hanger first! Thats their job!” I could hear feet rushing towards the end of the ship. I put up my left hand in a fist and suddenly all movement stopped. I clicked the saftey off on my rifle and brought it to my shoulder. “The hanger is secure Sergeant Major.” This felt more like a trap than an abandoned ship. I took a few seconds to look around the hanger, no ships at all or even tools. It was barren, or so they wanted us to think. Who ever this is, they sure did think this through. This is exactly what my brother and I would do to make our enemy curios. I looked at the demolitions tech, “Toss me two of your zip ties Corporal.” The Sergeant Major look at him and motioned with his weapon to do as I said. The Marine lowered his weapon and pulled two zip ties from a pouch on his plate carrier, tossing them towards me with force. As he did I lowered my weapon onto its sling and grabbed them. Tieing one of them to the widest setting and looping the other one through, doing the same thing. I put them in my left hand, then it happened.

From the corner of my right eye while I was looking into the ship, I saw what was never thought to be possible. A being came out from some sort of invisibility camouflage just out of site from the Marines. As it came into vision I brought my rifle up while turning and began stepping back while firing rounds into it. Absorbing the impact by some sort of personal shield system, the bullets had zero effect on it. The Marines jumped from the ship getting in front of me. The creature now clearly seen let out a horrendous cackle that sounded from the depths of hell. I saw the Sergeant Major pull a ten-gauge shotgun from his back, racking a shell into the chamber and rush it. The creature threw its arms towards him. “I don’t fucking think so!” Pattus slid down onto his knees, jamming the barrel into its chest as a thunderous boom bellowed from the weapon. The creature was thrusted back with the force of pure American power. Its body slammed onto the ground, a silverish glimmer appeared over the body then faded away. There was virtually no blood coming from it, only a small trace of clear liquid around the wound. Pattus stood up and looked at me “Sir are you ok?” I personally was fine, it was everything that’s happening that was not ok. “Ya i’m fine.” I looked at the body of the creature, there was a familiar sight to it.

I began walking towards the creatures body on the ground. “This is Commander Gerald, I need immediate reinforcements as well as a medical shuttle with a med pod on board.” “Roger that Commander, ETA 15 minutes.” Marines surrounded me as I began to close in on the body. I kneeled down to examine it, my curiosity was spiked when it showed familiarity to me. I saw the left hand as I stood on the right side begin to clasp. I put my left hand up with a fist and drew the handgun from my side. Its fist unclenched as I pulled it out, palm turning upward. I felt a swift grab to my head from the creature with both hands, claws digging into my skull. The pain was unbearable but I understood now what this creature was. As it pulled me towards it I brought the pistol in my right hand to its head and squeezed the trigger, blowing its brain out of the side of its head. Once its brain evicted its head the arms fell down, hands letting go of my head. I stood up briskly and began stepping back, falling into the bay of the shuttle. The Marines surrounded the body with weapons at the ready. “Don’t!!! Its dead this time. We need it intact as much as possible so we can analyze its structure.” They lowered their weapons and stepped back from the body, still at the ready encase it got up again.

Three shuttles came flying into the hanger and landed next to ours. Two of them were filled with Marines who busted out of the shuttles and began setting up a perimeter with A headset on their helmets I had never seen before. The third shuttle landed just past the body with A giant red cross on it, shuttle painted white. I remember these in the war, they were considered neutral targets and neither sides ever engaged them except for one time. The back door on the shuttle opened with medics pushing the medical pod out of the ship. There was four Marines with them, sporting ten-gauge shotguns at the ready. The medics opened the pod and lifted the body into the container. “Sir we need a handprint to seal the pod.” I wasn’t aware that the med pods required handprint identification to seal them, only to be opened by the sealer later. The med pod sitting on the ground with this familiar body seemed odd to me. I put my right hand into the I.D. panel and it sealed. “Seal confirmed by Commander Gerald, only to be opened by him unless overridden by the fleet admiral.” The voice on the pod shut off and the medics pushed it back into the shuttle. Marines following with a brisk pace but keeping weapons pointed at the pod.

As I looked into the medical shuttle I could see a silhouette standing by the pilots cabin. It seemed familiar to me, just like the creature. It began walking to the rear of the shuttle slowly, almost taking its time to savor the moment. Sergeant Major Pattus came to my side as this silhouette came from the dark. “Sir, I know this is going to be hard for you but please be calm.” “Hello Gerald, I have waited far too long to see you again, I have missed you so much.”

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