A Hunter's Tale

I had thought it would be so easy! I brought my ship in behind their radar, but it really wouldn't have mattered.

After I made the trek across the moonscape wilderness, I found that the security on this "top secret" facility wasn't even as good as a Mach III, they still where using some pathetic system called a Hyperscan 7000. My ships cloaking device would have easily slipped past that. Oh well, better safe than sorry.

I could see the structure from my perch on the hill above it: a small dome, with two adjoining domes on either side. At the front entrance, they had posting two guards, both in full marine armor. Marines had never been a problem before, so they didn't worry me to much. I ran a quick scan of the base, just to make sure there wasn't any surprises waiting for me, then I struck. Marine battle armor doesn't do a thing to stop a pulse rocket; both guards where dead after the first shot. I ran down the slope to the front entrance. A simple thumb print scan was the only mechanism to lock it. A thumbprint scan!! I grabbed one of the guards hands and sure enough, he was registered in the system. "Thanks my friend, you made my life a little easier," I said to the dead man. As the computer finished processing the guards thumb print, the door lazily slid open. It opened into a long hallway, about what I had expected in a research facility. I walked in a slow jog, careful to watch for any type of security that they may have hidden in the walls. I guessed at the time that they had thought their hidden location would be plenty of security. Was I in for a surprise.

I passed several doors, each with labels on them in some human language that I didn't understand. No matter, I did know the specific project I was looking for, and what the name would be, and that was all that mattered.

I was moving at a good pace through the building, when suddenly I came upon a human scientist. He stood in shock for a moment, and then turned to run in terror. Apparently he had never seen my kind before. And he never saw anything again. Power beams are much quieter than rockets, so I sent one into the scientists back. As he crumpled into the floor, I quickly took a turn down a branching hallway; I wanted to get as far away from the corpse as possible. Dead bodies tended to draw attention.

I finally came to door with a word that I did recognize, "storage". I pushed the button to open it, and it complied. Inside, there was what seemed to be dozens of gas tanks, of varying colors and sizes. But on the wall was what I was looking for: a diagram of the building. It was welded onto the metal wall, but I ran a mem scan over it so I could access it from my suits database later, and went about trying to figure out where the specific project I was looking for would be located. I found that there were actually several levels to the facility, and that I was on the top one. Naturally, the project I wanted was on the bottom. The kriffin GF always did that kind of thing.

I ran a quick life form scan to verify that the hallway was clear, then opened the door and stepped out. I followed my newly acquired map to the lifts, and found the one that led to the bottom floor. It required another thumbprint. I cursed myself for not getting a mem scan of the marines thumb, or even the scientists, but it was too late to think about that now. I did have just the thing for this job, though I hadn’t yet tested it on GF technology. It was a handheld computer that I had clipped to my belt, which I had designed myself. I called it the FineHack 4, and with good reason. I plugged it into an input jack on the thumbprint scanner, and within nanoseconds, I was cleared to use the lift. Again, no security seemed to be alerted. I smiled to myself as I put my little hacking device back in my belt. "I should have guessed that our dear GF wouldn’t have anything too advanced for my little creation!" I said to myself as the lift slowly descended.

The bottom floor looked exactly like the top, just more doors with labels on them. It didn't take me long to find the one I wanted, it was clearly labeled "experimental personal weapons systems". I ran another life form scan; there was only two people in the room. No problem. I was going to plant an entry charge on the door, but, remembering the supply room, I tried pushing the ‘open’ button first. This door was just as compliant as the supply room's. The two life forms where more human scientist, one a man and the other a woman. I shot the man first, he was more likely to do something stupid, but then the woman started screaming. Another shot silenced her. I waited a moment to see if her cries had alerted anyone to my presence, but after a moment, nothing happened, so I assumed that either the walls where sound proof or people here heard screams far too often.

But there, in the center of the little room, I saw what I had come for. There was a power suit, obviously incomplete, but it still looked like it was functional. It resembled a gray skeleton of sorts; but there was definitely power behind it. Grasped in the right arm of the suit, was another strange device, a weapon of sorts. Yes, THAT was just what I had come for. I moved towards the suit, and began examining it. The weapon was not only held in the suits hand, but was attached to the arm, which led me to assume that it required the suit to run properly. Luckily, the suit was designed for large humans, so it fit me just right. I had to leave all of my original gear, but if this weapon where as good as my intel suggested, it would be worth it.

It had taken me a moment to get it on (there wasn't exactly an instruction manual on how to open it) but once inside, it was like I was born in it. The readouts began flicking across the visor in front of me, some words I didn't know, but most where diagrams, pictures, and some 3D images. I hefted my right arm to closely exam my new tool, when suddenly it burst forth a blast of energy like that from a power beam. A second after, it released an arc of electricity, which slammed into the wall, leaving a massive black charred mark. I got over my initial surprise quickly, and soon figured out what had just happened. The scientist had designed the suit to be thought operated, so when I had looked at the weapon and thought about it, it showed me what exactly it was. A standard power beam, combined with a rocket launcher (which thankfully, hadn't gone off) much like my old one, but also the new weapon that I had come for. It was capable of throwing a concentrated bolt of electricity at a close ranged target. Beautiful, I thought to myself. I began moving around, testing out the servos and motors that aided in the minimal strength enhancements of the suit. All in all, it was more than I had ever dreamed it would be.

I moved towards the door, and told the suit to run a scan for nearby life forms. To my joy and amazement, it responded with the scan, but the results quickly dampened my spirits. There where at least twenty human life forms waiting for me, just outside the door. For a moment I stood cursing them; then I started to come up with ideas. I'm not quit sure what exactly I was thinking when suddenly, the suit showed me my best choice.

It frightened me at first, because I didn't understand what was happening. The suit began to force me into a twisted posture, and my field of vision had changed form what was in front of me to what was below me. Then the screen went black for a moment, and was then filled with a computer splice of an infrared scan over a visual layout. I tried moving my arms and legs, but the suit was stuck tight, not moving an inch. I tried and tried, but nothing happened until it occurred to me to TELL the suit to move. This time, I thought about moving to my left, and the suit began sliding to the left. I thought about moving to the right, and the suit slid to the right. But what was all this for? The suit answered my question as soon as I thought it, but the readout was in that blasted human language. I can't read that!! Again the suit responded, and I was given a quick vid feed of what the suit appeared like from the outside. It was a strange and twisted thing, like two grey metal bars bent around a core of energy. Suddenly, in the vid, a strange glowing orb was dropped from the core of the suit. This was then followed by another, and they both suddenly exploded in a terrific blast. So, that's what the suit had calculated my best chance for survival was. I hesitated no more.

Directing the suit right in front of the door, I thought about the blast I had just seen on the vid. The door was blown into shrapnel, and the blast didn't affect me at all. I didn't stop to think about what kind of new power this was, it worked and that was all I cared about. I began thinking about the blast over and over as I sped out into the crowd. They where all marines, waiting with their guns trained on the door, but only a few of them even got off a shot before another blast killed them all. I ran another scan, indicating that the way ahead was clear, and then began sliding forward at a lightning pace. When I came to the lift, I thought again about walking, and suddenly I was released back into my regular bipedal stance.

It was then that I remembered I didn't have my hacker with me anymore. Again, the suit responded to my thoughts with a more than satisfactory answer. A small jack appeared out of the left wrist, and this I plugged into the lift. I was up and moving just as fast as when I had used my homemade hacker. "Is there anything that those fools haven’t provided me with?” I laughed. At the first floor though, more company was waiting for me.

Another squad of marines all began firing as soon as the door of the lift slid open. This time I wasn't ready, and took most of the shots square in the chest. Alarms began sounding in the suit, and I was knocked back. I finally recovered from the initial shock of being shot, even though fire was still being poured into me, and managed to get my own weapon up.

The lighting bolt flew out of the end, connecting with the first marine. He screamed for only an instant, then the bolt began to wrap around more and more of the soldiers. I stood up to my feet, keeping my arm aimed at the marines, watching in wonder as each of them screamed, twisted and died under the flow of energy. It only took about five seconds for the whole crowd to be dead, and then the arc of electricity shut off. I gazed in amazement at what I had just done, when suddenly I noticed something even more amazing. The power cells of the suits energy shield, which had been almost depleted under the withering fire of the marines, was now at full capacity. Somehow, activating the arc and killing all of the marines had replenished the suits power! This weapon was even better than my information had suggested!

I broke into a run down the hall, heading for the door. The servos and motors of the suit didn't do much for speed enhancement in and of itself, however, the general strength enhancement allowed me to take longer strides, propelling my self further and faster. I was at the door in under a minute, and burst out of it as fast as I could. There was no reason to linger in case they decided to throw something against the suit that it couldn't handle. It was then that I realized that they already had.

Two marine battle tanks where sitting there, with there guns locked onto me as I exited the facility. I stopped dead in my tracks, and raised my arms high above my head. I had seen what the suit could do, and I had seen what a battle tank could do, and I was not ready to die. A few marines came walking up from the tanks and where apparently going to come and retrieve the suit from me. I was thinking about what would happen when they did, I would be arrested, jailed, eventually executed. My ship would be impounded, sold to the highest bidder once I was dead...And at that thought, I noticed something. High in the sky, also seemingly obeying my thoughts, was my ship. Its sleek blue form could be barely seen against the dark sky, luckily, in the direction the marines weren't looking. A readout came up on the visor of my suit, showing me exactly what the ship was looking at. I was flabbergasted at this new power the suit had just displayed, but I new exactly what to do with it. I directed the ship to come around the side of the marines, and began locking on to all of them. I gave the command, and a beam lanced forth from the ship, slicing the first tank in two. The beam then began tracking all of the targets I had selected, killing all of those that had opposed me. I had my arms raised the whole time, never moving, and all of the marines where now dead. Unbelievable!! I brought my ship down to me, and quickly boarded.

As I rocketed away from that god-forsaken moon, I sat at the controls of my ship (even though I can now control the Delano 6 with my mind, since it is was a standard GF fighter operating on the standard GF frequencies before I acquired it; I still like the feel of the yoke in my hand) and thought about my future. With this newly acquired power, I could do almost anything. Maybe see about getting an upgraded vehicle; the Delano 6’s sub-light engine was getting old. It would have to be something made by the GF so I could continue to control it from the suit. I could even settle an old debt with an old adversary of mine...Yes, I, Sylux, would soon be the greatest hunter in the galaxy!!