by Max Jager
After reading the profile on Benjamin he moved on to the hound. He had only been on three missions, all of which were successful but they involved elite team, tactical-deployment and not one solo operation. The hound had a simple name, Dark. A codename. Most hounds had names but they couldn't be pronounced with a human tongue.
Suddenly, Alerius heard a loud voice come over the intercom. "Agent Red Firius to launch room. Agent Red Firius to mission launch room immediately!"
Alerius rolled his eyes, sat the file down and went to the launch room. When he arrived it was a huge room with plenty of crew members walking around on the deck. They were all working on the big ship in the middle. Alerius was greeted by McCleaf. They shook each others' hands. McCleaf spoke up. "Good luck Firius."
"Yeah, I'm going to need it."
They both began walking towards the ship. McCleaf started talking again. "Now listen Firius, you have a five hour time slot to finish your mission. Which should be more then enough time if the bridge has the transporter their."
"What transporter?"
The ships engines blasted as a routine check blast. Alerius and McCleaf had to start screaming at one another to hear each other. "FOR THE RIGHT PRICE HE'LL TAKE YOU ACROSS THE BRIDGE, DOESN'T MATTER WHAT SIDE YOUR ON!"
"I DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY!"
"YOU WON'T NEED IT, THEY DON'T TAKE MONEY DOWN THERE! HOPFULLY THE PRICE WON'T BE TOO HIGH!"
They were now close to the ship and Alerius began boarding it. He slid into the front seat and grabbed a hold of the steering sticks. "WHAT DO THEY TAKE FOR PAYMENT?"
"SOMETIMES THEY TAKE GUNS, AMMO, CLOTHES, GEAR, WHATEVERS THE TRADE FASHION DOWN THERE! SOMETIMES THEY TAKE," McCleaf coughed a bit, "body parts!"
"I'M SORRY SIR I DIDN'T CATCH THAT LAST PART!"
"GOOD LUCK!"
McCleaf slammed the glass overhead display down closing Alerius in the ship. He gave the signal for the ship to blast off. Suddenly, the bay doors opened and Alerius was sent hurtling into outer space! McCleaf was back on the main deck watching Alerius's departure. He watched the holographic version of his rocket plummet towards a holographic planet.
"God, I hope he makes it!"
Little did the Admiral or Alerius know it but from here on in there wasn't a mission anymore, only survival. Survival and gut instinct.
Planet Scalobore: Welcome to the Swamp
Alerius held on tight to the steering sticks as the ship plummeted down to the planet. The ship shook him violently as it now began to enter the atmosphere of the planet. The atmosphere was thick and the ship began to quake even more violently as it became this burning hunk of metal in the sky! Alerius grinded his teeth as he was rocked by the mere shaking.
Finally the ship blasted through the atmosphere and was now on a smooth plummet to the ground. The shaking abruptly stopped and Alerius could now make out the ground through the clouds. Alerius watched as the ground rushed up to meet the ship and the green landscape became wider and more dense. The swampland of the planet was extremely thick. He was not even on the ground and he could already see that most of the trees were massive and that the ground was damp from water. He couldn't see any real tributaries yet but that was probably because he was too high.
The green landscape encircled his view too fast and before he even knew it, the ship landed hard on the ground and skidded on the soft swamp floor. Alerius was rocked and felt his stomach rush into his mouth when he landed. The ship finally came to a shaky stop and slid a bit to one side. Alerius was in a pretty bad way and sat in the ship for at least three minutes before finally getting out.
Alerius lifted up the glass hatch and stood up. He felt his brain fluid slosh three different ways inside his head which knocked him right back down into his seat. He put his hand on his head and let out a stifled little grunt. Closed his eyes and rubbed his head with his hand. He stood up again still rubbing his head. He got out of the ship and put his hand down. Knowing that this headache would go away in about a minute.
He opened his eyes and looked around. At first, he just saw a bright light and some shades of green until his eyes adjusted to the light. He blinked a bit and looked again. This time he could see clearly.
He saw huge, massive, tree trunks that reached high in the sky and created a beautiful green canopy. A vast array of light beams cascaded through the holes in the tree ceiling. They went all the way down to the ground looking like searchlights from Heaven. He followed the beams right down to the swamp floor which was very wet and grassy. There were small little puddles of water. At first glance, it looked like it had just rained but the real reason was that this section of the swamp was probably just a reservoir for a mossy pond beyond. The grass was mushy beneath Alerius's feet.
There was also a smell. It was about ninety-five degrees out and the humidity was giving off a disgusting odor. It was the mossy smell of swamp. It burned his nostrils as he took in each breath. He started to get use to it but the pungent aroma still lingered with each breath. It was so bad that he began to taste it inside of his mouth as if foul swamp water was coating his tongue.
Alerius began to walk away from the ship and into the dense swampland. As he walked, the water holes got higher and bigger beginning to connect to each other creating small pools which went right up to Alerius's ankles. Alerius was no longer walking through the puddles but now trudging through them having to lift his foot a little higher each time he took a step.
As he got further, the swap started to really show itself. The trees were now covered in moss and the grass was gone. Now, all that remained, was the foul water which was over Alerius's ankles now and was flowing steadily like a river. His pants were getting soggy and water was seeping heavily into his shoes. He only hoped that the pistols hidden inside would not jam in the water.
He stopped walking after a bit. He took off his red bandana and wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked up at the two suns. He didn't know how much longer he had to go but he did know he was walking in the right direction. He put the bandana back on his head and continued on.
The trees were thick with moss now as he continued on. The bark did not even show. Just the green slime of the swampy residue. Alerius kept on though as he began panting and sweating profusely. He figured that any normal man would have collapsed of exhaustion by now but he could take it. He was a rogue after all.
He walked a little more ways until he heard this strange sound. It was the buzzing of a small engine. Two of them. He didn't recognize the sound right away. Not until they got closer. They were heading right in his direction and Alerius could hear them more defined now.
They were small hovercrafts made for one person. They resembled skateboards with big shields on them. Alerius just stood out in the open awaiting their arrival. He looked in the direction they were coming at him from and he could see two small black dots getting bigger.
Then, they started to morph into shapes. He watched as the black dots became actual forms. The one was a bit bigger then the other but for right now, both of them had the same shape.
Alerius took a couple steps closer to the oncoming shapes and now they were in perfect view. They were no longer black dots but creatures on hovercrafts. They approached him at rapid speed.
The one was smaller then the other. The small one was a pig looking creature. It had tusks coming from the top of its mouth and it looked dirty. It's grayish skin was somewhat doted with green splotches. Probably from the moss which covered the swamp. It had ugly yellow eyes and had on cheap looking clothes. They were torn up and the only thing that looked like it actually cost money was the hat it was wearing. Though it was worn looking and also had green splotches on it. It was probably stolen from a human. Alerius didn't believe that that kind of apparel terrestrially existed on the planet.
The other was much bigger then it's smaller counterpart. This one was twice more muscle bound and looked twice as more menacing. It was a pig looking creature too. It had about the same kind of clothes on only it didn't wea
r a hat. This one had a shoulder pad on its right shoulder with blades on it. This shoulder guard was definitely stolen. Alerius could tell because only certain races made those kind of garments for their warriors and it certainly wasn't these pig people.
Alerius couldn't recognize what race these pigs were. He figured that these things must be indigenousness to Scalobore. He was not to familiar with the life-forms of this planet and he didn't think he wanted to get familiar. They didn't look to be the most welcoming of hosts.
He also noticed their guns. The smaller one had a shotgun strapped to its waist while the bigger one had two handguns on its hips. Alerius figured that the guns had also been stolen. He feared off of dead bodies. Dead human soldiers' bodies. Already dead or killed by them he couldn't really tell. Keep what they wanted and sell the rest. Filthy, murderous, scavengers! Alerius surmised though that that was a way-of-life for just about everybody on Scalobore. Take what you can, when you can.
Alerius contemplated about hiding somewhere. He was, after all, not even suppose to be on the planet. He knew though there was nowhere he could hide. He figured that these pigs knew the swamp better then they knew the back of their own hands. This swampland was probably their own personal hunting ground. Who knew how many dead people they had hiding out in the disgusting mush Alerius now stood in.
These pig people stopped their hovercrafts about five feet from him and looked at him. Alerius stared at them right back and neither one of them said a word. The pig people then flew right over top of him and slowly floated down into the water about ten feet away from Alerius. They parked the hovercrafts by a tree and both of them got out their guns. The smaller one brought up the shotgun and cocked it. It then gave a small grin over at Alerius and walked his way. The other whipped out its two handguns and rolled its neck. Three pops came from the pig's neck and then it stared at Alerius menacingly. It followed right behind its smaller counterpart. They both came within a very short shooting distance of Alerius. They both stared him down as he stared right back.
Alerius had already begun studying the two. He had began evaluating them while they were still air born. He figured he didn't need his guns out. He figured he could take the smaller one in hand-to-hand combat but the other one he wasn't so sure on. He looked at both of them with absolutely no fear.
The two pigs looked at each other and began to grunt and snort to each other. Alerius figured that the two were talking in their own language to each other. He saw the smaller one smile at the bigger one and then started walking closer.
The smaller one began to circle around Alerius and he followed it out of the corner of his eyes. The small pig creature walking around him began to talk. Its voice was slurred through. A heavy, deep throat, gargle sound but Alerius managed to understand it. "Well, what do we have here?"
Alerius snarled.
"A human!" The pig creature looked at his bigger partner with a big sneer.
His partner just kept staring at Alerius with some mean looking yellow eyes.
The smaller one spoke again. "I thought you sick monkeys didn't even exist anymore? What you doing down here?"
"Thought I'd see the sights. Vacation, you know."
The circling pig creature had its shotgun barrel on its shoulder and kept circling Alerius while he watched for any hostile maneuvers from either of them.
"Oh, so you thought Scalobore was a vacation sight, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm into swamps with heat packing pigs!"
After Alerius said that he saw the pig stop right in front of him and stared him down with evil eyes. It lowered the shotgun off its shoulder and down to the ground. Alerius was on alert now. That wasn't what put him on alert though. He was pretty sure he could handle these Charlotte's Web rejects. What did put him on alert was this noise in the distance steadily increasing in volume. It was a noise that these pigs couldn't detect but he could. Something fast and something dangerous! He could hear the rustling of the water as it moved. It moved very skillfully. It was definitely some kind of deadly predator. On Scalobore, it could be anything. Alerius could tell one thing for certain from the noise; it was definitely a killer moving in for the kill.
"You trying to be funny?" The pig creature snorted right in front of his face.
Alerius just stared at him back. "No."
"Because it wasn't."
That noise was now very close. Alerius knew if he moved that either this pig would shoot him, the other pig, or this deadly thing, whatever it was, would get him. Either way, if he moved wrong, he would be dead. He was going to wait to see what either would do.
"You monkeys think your so damn funny! Well, who's laughing now."
Alerius watched the shotgun barrel raise up to eye level with him. He heard the two handguns cock and he also heard that noise now extremely close. It almost sounded right on top of him but the pig people still had not noticed it. That's when it happened!
The bigger pig was attacked by a fast moving, black blur and was hauled away into the swamp somewhere! The smaller compatriot saw his partner disappear and lowered the shotgun from Alerius. Alerius stayed still, analyzing the situation, as the smaller pig went over to his friend's last position. It looked around for its partner but it didn't find the bigger pig. It swung the shotgun in both directions looking for something to shoot. It then went back over to Alerius and began looking in the opposite direction. It looked around and then turned and looked at Alerius. It raised the shotgun and was about to blow Alerius away.
Alerius could have easily grabbed the shotgun but he didn't need to. The pig was knocked off balance by a big object thrown at it. The object was clumsy looking so there was no way it was the thing that took off with the bigger pig. It was the bigger pig! Its body was torn apart! Its stomach was wide open, its neck was slashed almost several different times, its limbs were mutilated! Looking like torn-up bits of meat which was exactly what it was!
The smaller pig looked at it with the shotgun in utter disbelieve. The pig looked back at Alerius not in anger anymore but fear. Almost as if it wanted Alerius to help it before it was taken next. It was too late!
A big black blur jumped out of the trees and landed right on top of the smaller pig. The shotgun went off once but was tossed aside by the black blur. Immediately after the shotgun was thrown to the way side, blood began gushing out from the black object. The smaller pig screamed like a hog in a slaughterhouse. Alerius could hear the gurgling in the pig's voice as its throat was overwhelmed in blood and death. The blood began to turn the swamp water around the black object into a red and green colored soup.
Finally, the massacre was over and the black blur stood up. It stood up like a man on two feet with its two arms at its side. It fingers dripping blood from long claws that looked like perfect weapons for tearing apart flesh and bone! Alerius could see this thing was definitely a monster. It had an almost human look to it though. It had black fur all over its body. A long tail swung side to side right above the buttocks. Its whole body was muscular looking and its head had two long pointed ears which seemed to turn Alerius's way!
The black furred predator turned around and Alerius knew exactly what this thing was. Even before it had turned to face him. It was a hound. The canine looking head that was soaked in blood. The two metal gauntlets that were attached to its forearms which was standard in its military. The killer instinct, the way it moved, it was a hound alright. Alerius figured that this was the agent he was suppose to meet up with.
Suddenly, the hound brought the two gauntlets up to its face and three huge blades detracted out of them! They were about as long as a ruling stick and the blades looked custom made. The hound then drew one arm back and was ready to take down Alerius! Alerius stayed clam. He knew that it was just acting on instinct. That's how all hound soldiers were trained. Alerius just extended one hand and began to wave it in a calming motion. "Easy Dark, easy."
The hound lowered the drawn back arm and cocked its head a bit. It lowered its arm down to its side and walked
right up to Alerius.
Alerius was prepared. The hound, Agent Dark, stared at him for a moment and then put one blood soaked hand on his shoulder. Alerius knew that now Dark did recognize him as an ally. Dark removed his hand and walked away with his tail still swing. Alerius was use to blood getting on his clothes and body but he still breathed a sigh of relieve that it wasn't his. Meanwhile, Agent Dark was over by a tree, cleaning himself up.
The hounds were trained in the art of 'Maul' and 'Hunt'. Hunt was a stalking method and then when the time is just right, tear your enemy to pieces. Maul was a blitzkrieg tactic. During heated war when racing towards the enemy, when you get close enough to the enemy, rip them to shreds. Most fighting styles throughout the universe were based on animals or a unique style which was specific to that alien races. Including humans which had stayed with many traditional fighting techniques. These types were either stylized or the real close-quarter-combat type. Which was by no means fancy. Hounds were about the only race though that had embraced their own savage nature in fighting, then going for a more stylized approach. A neat clean way to kill the enemy fast was not what they were taught. They went for savagery and were known through out the universe as one of the most lethal races out there! The hounds were expert hunters and killers. They were also trained in the art of Pack Hunt. Another form of Hunt only this one was a group attack. Quick in, slash and hack, slow out.