Omega - Prologue

• Posted by Andrew Shepherd October 24, 2015 - 747 views

  Omega 

  TOC

  Prologue 

   

  Bound in the chains of his mind, the prisoner was an unwilling witness to the nightmare unfolding around him. Terrifying birds of prey descended from the sky, their screams churning the dust of the barren landscape. Dark humanoid shapes began to materialize through the maelstrom, surrounding him. And then fire erupted from every quarter. 

   

  Surrounded, outnumbered he fought. Explosions rocked the ground, red and green beams of energy crisscrossed  the arid air and red-hot projectiles peppered the ground and structures around him. He was hit, over and over again by fire and lead, armor disintegrating, flesh tearing, blood flowing. A final titanic blast shook the ground nearby and the shock-wave knocked him unconscious. 

   

  Awake again now. Bare flesh laid out on cold steel. Cold dark eyes staring down at him. Cold light blinding him. Cold steel piercing him. His teeth chattered in his head and then darkness. 

   

  Low voices now. His senses were slowly coming back. He heard radio static within his skull and the voices became clear. 

   

  "Ah, he's finally waking up. Good." said a dry voice. He began to perceive light. The scent in the air was sterile, clinical.  And he was freezing. Slowly, he opened his eyes. A man in uniform was standing over him, his face craggy and devoid of emotion. 

  "Can you hear me?" With a slow nod he acknowledged the uniform. "What is your name?" the man asked. 

  "Jim," he replied in a croak. "Jim Thorne. Where am I?" The man smiled down at Thorne humorlessly.  

  "Your place. Or at least it was until we took it from you." he inclined his head towards a door in the dimly lit room. It was flanked by two bulky, black-armored soldiers. Heavily armed. Thorne looked down at his body and saw he was strapped down within a capsule, it's transparent hatch opened above his head. The uniform continued.

  "You have been in cryo-stasis for several months. What is the last thing you remember?" 

   

  Thorne continued to crane his neck to inspect his body. He was naked and his torso and limbs were covered with scars, some surgical, others from battle. His arms and legs were dotted with black metallic craters. Implants. He rubbed the back of his head against the cold capsule bench. It was numb, but he could hear the scrape of metal on metal.  

  "What have you done to me?" 

  "We have made a few.. modifications." The uniform looked over his shoulder at a cadaverous man standing in the shadows near a control panel. He wore a white lab coat and dark glasses betrayed no emotion. 

  "Who are you?" asked Thorne. 

  "I will ask the questions for the time being. What is the last thing you remember?"  

   

  Thorne recounted his nightmare. It had been real. He glanced again at the silent soldiers guarding the door. Enclave troops. He had been patrolling the compound when the three vertibirds had swooped in from nowhere in a lightning assault, smashing their defenses in a surprise attack. They had captured the beacon. Zeta was theirs. 

   

  "Good," said the uniform turning to the scientist. "His memories are intact. Let's try phase two."  

  The thin man in the lab coat nodded and threw a switch on the control panel. The steel straps encircling Thorne's limbs and body suddenly released and retracted into the slab. Thorne rose slowly, swinging his legs out of the capsule and onto the icy floor. He stood, his knees wobbling. The uniform handed him a robe, which he donned immediately. Thorne ran a hand over the back of his shaved pate and felt the large implant imbedded there. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the man. 

   

  "I am General McCarthy." he said. "Second in command of Enclave operations at Adams Air Force base. Or I was until you and your Brotherhood captured it and wiped out my comrades in the process." 

  Jim Thorne passed his hand over his eyes as the memories of that carnage came flooding back. He had hoped that he had seen the last of it. He was wrong. McCarthy continued. 

  "Myself and a contingent of personnel and elite troops managed to escape with three vertibirds with the sole purpose of tracking you down and eliminating you once and for all. What a surprise it was to find you with this great gift." He motioned to the scientist who touched the panel again. Thorne turned to the sound of a low mechanical hum and saw one section of the wall behind him sliding upwards to reveal a clear viewing window. Beyond it was the black void of space, except for a blue green planet slowly rotating within it. Not the drab brown of earth. Two moons were orbiting the world. Thorne sucked in his breath. No, not earth. 

  "Correct, Thorne." said McCarthy, this time with a slight smirk. "Do you know it was always the Enclave's mission to leave the wreck of our planet behind? To start a new order on a new world?" Thorne stood motionless, staring out of the viewing port. "Those plans were thwarted, time and again. And then you, a lowly vault dweller, a lab rat, come along and thwart us again!" McCarthy chuckled now. "You and the brotherhood almost sent us extinct and then you hand us this wondrous gift! The means to finally complete our mission with this ship of yours. Thank you." 

   

  With sudden rage, Thorne spun and went to lunge at the general. He would pound this smug fool's head into the deck before he died. But no sooner had he initiated the  move when his legs went from under him and he collapsed on the floor, the anger quickly fading. He looked in surprise at the general. McCarthy laughed. 

  "Well done doctor," he said to the scientist who was nodding vigorously. "Your compulsion chip works perfectly." He looked down at Thorne. "When you were captured, many under my command wanted to execute you immediately. But to my mind, this would have been a terrible waste of unique resources." He gestured to the emaciated scientist. "Doctor Gellar here assured me that those resources could be utilized. The chip inside your head makes this possible." he laughed again. "We own you, Jim Thorne." 

   

  Thorne felt the anger rising but it ebbed again, quicker this time. The general pointed to the planet, hanging in space. "For several months we repaired the ship with the help of your companions and the surviving original inhabitants. We were preparing for a test flight as we were nearing completion when we detected a distortion in space-time, not far from the ship." 

  Thorne looked at the strange planet and then back at McCarthy, an incredulous expression forming on his scarred features. 

  "A worm-hole?" 

  "Precisely." smiled McCarthy. "We could perceive this planet on the other side. A fresh, green new planet, ripe for the taking. We moved the ship through and took up geosynchronous orbit around this world, directly above the source of the space-time distortion. It was actually coming  from the planet!" 

  "How is that possible?" 

  "It defies physics as we know it." replied the general. "But we know it originated from the top of the planet's highest peak. We have been analyzing the planet's biosphere for several weeks. The inhabitants are extremely hostile, but it's humanoids are pre-industrial and cannot withstand our technology. I am recruiting you to lead the first expeditionary force down to that mountain peak and establish a beach head there."

  McCarthy walked to a nearby wall and depressed a panel. It slid aside to reveal a suit of Enclave Hell-Fire armor and an arsenal of weapons. 

  "As I said," McCarthy continued. "I won't have such resources wasted."