Futuristic The Keepers: Unity [Two more writers Needed!]

[DJGomez]

Caine looked over at Sierra, it was clear she was terrified, all the more reson why he thought she wasn't a good candidate, but now wasn't the time for I told you so's. He was trained to resist interrogation and capture. The EM prided itself on making the most realistic SEAR school for its special forces. It was so detailed that even Caine admitted that it stopped being a training routine and became real to him. Regardless he went over a wide array of various torture or Indoctrination methods that Ulyssesus could try. He looked back at Seirra. "What do you fight for Sierra?"





@AACS @JPax42 @Ulysseus @LesDom

 

[LesDom]

Jack fumed in the rain, the soldiers now reaching the small group. The drones still hovered above them, in standby mode. He looked up at the ocular lens next to the rotors, and realized they were cameras. Jack grabbed the closest soldier that attempted to cuff him, guns locked and trained on him in seconds. He stared at the camera, knowing Ulysses was watching. "We'll come. Voluntarily." He pushed the man away, the rifles of his fellow soldiers still aimed and waiting for orders. "If you try to restrain any of us, I'll kill one soldier for every bullet Talistor took." On the ground, Kaero still lied; riddled with almost hundreds of rounds from the minigun.

 

[Ulysseus]

Ulysses nodded at Jack's proclamation, staring at the video feed. He leaned to a commander next to him in the hangar. "Don't restrain them, but we will still be placing them in their solitary, sealed quarters. Also, be ready to flood any room with sedative aerosols at my command. I don't want them causing trouble." At this, the commander radioed commands to every necessary sub-commander of the operation. The soldiers surrounding the Keepers began leading the members aboard a shuttle, keeping a respectful distance.

 

[LesDom]

Jack stalked inside with his crew, looking around the interior of the hangar. He whistled at the size, looking back into the cameras. "How much dirty money did you need to build this?"

 

[duegxybus]

Sierra looked at Caine incredulously. "How bout you shut up?" She boldly followed Jack into the dreadnought, ignoring Joshua altogether.


Placed in her cell, she looked around and called Ulysses. "Is there nothing here? Not even a flower?"





@Ulysseus

 

[Ulysseus]

Ulysses watched the Keepers board the large craft as an extensive array of soldiers escorted them to their narrow rooms. He disregarded Jack's last comment. As each Keeper stepped into their enclosure, a semi-transparent sheet descended behind them. The rooms were sparse, with a gray, opaque crystalline material making up the majority of the polished interior. A slab of this material, with slight cushioning placed on top of it, served as the bed. Small ventilation filters regulated the atmospheric quality. Once the doors were sealed, Ulysses silently waved away the soldiers, dismissing them to their regular positions. He watched the guards move quickly to their posts.





"Is there nothing here? Not even a flower?" Ulysses heard this remark from Sierra and stepped in front of her cell. As he did, the door became completely transparent and he stared at her intently. Pausing, he reached into his coat pocket for a small holodisc. He illuminated it, displaying the image of a white tulip. "I've always loved this sort of flower. It was the first we brought to my colony many decades ago. It's always been, for me, a symbol of simpler times. Of purity." Turning off the hologram, Ulysses smiled and slipped the disc through the food slot of Sierra's cell. He then stepped past Apollo and Caine's cells towards Jack's.


The wall of Jack's cell turned transparent as Ulysses stepped before it. "I'm sorry for the death of Kaero. He was not my intended target, and given the choice no one would have perished." He paused anxiously. "Are you comfortable?"





@AACS @JPax42 @LesDom @DJGomez @Anaxial

 

[TAINLA]

Apollo stepped into the cell, stepping into the polished interior. It was quite roomy, compared to the old OGA cells. Seriously, it was pretty awesome. He squinted through the semitransparent glass, seeing Odysseus walking past the cell.


Apollo heard some chatter from the outside, but decided to leave it alone altogether. The bed was rather cozy, though everything was gray. "Odysseus, where are we going?"





Apollo walked up to the semitransparent sheet and looked at shadows of people, none of which resembled Odysseus's suit.


@Ulysseus @DJGomez @JPax42 @LesDom

 

[LesDom]

"I'm sorry for the death of Kaero. He was not my intended target, and given the choice no one would have perished. Are you comfortable?" Jack turned around at the wall, staring at Ulysses. "My teammate I was responsible for died today. He died protecting someone else. He threw his body in front of a gun to save someone you tried to kill." He studied the man, his suit, his emotions on his face. Real, or another trick? Just another game of smoke and mirrors.


"You couldn't face us in person. You couldn't tell us what you're so afraid of. Something you're so afraid of, you had to kill someone and lock the rest of us up just to get away from. You're a coward. Taking a life is easy." Jack's face turned cold as he turned away from the door. "I've spent years fighting everything that threatened us and I know problems aren't solved by running away." He took a deep breath, his fists shaking. "You can take our armor away. Our weapons. Our ship. I don't care. You murdered a man who spent his last breath in this universe trying to save another life. If we are in danger, if the universe really is in trouble, nothing you have done today will help. The only thing you've done in our supposed waning hours is earn yourself a ticket straight to hell."





@AACS @Ulysseus @JPax42 @DJGomez

 

[duegxybus]

Sierra acknowledged the flower before sitting on the ground, burying her head in her hands. She couldn't hear anything right now, but she could feel Ulysses's footsteps going back and forth, and some mild talking from Jack's cell. Finally, the shock from Kaero's death had hit her. She continued recreating the moment; him getting shot in the back repeatedly and falling over, blood spilling out. His red, human blood, was a cost.


Sierra rubbed her eyes and continued looking outside. "Ulysses, turn your head here." She smashed her hands against the semi transparent window in anger. "How are you going to pay for Kaero's death?! Is his body just going to lay there on your spaceship to remind yourself of what you've done?!" Sierra's eyes had gone bloodshot from all her yelling. "BRING HIM BACK! YOU HAVE THE TECH TO BUILD WHATEVER YOU WANT! BRING HIM BACK!" Sierra kicked the window, the whole cell shaking slightly.


@Ulysseus @LesDom@DJGomez @AACS

 

[Ulysseus]

"You couldn't face us in person. You couldn't tell us what you're so afraid of. Something you're so afraid of, you had to kill someone and lock the rest of us up just to get away from. You're a coward. Taking a life is easy. I've spent years fighting everything that threatened us and I know problems aren't solved by running away. You can take our armor away. Our weapons. Our ship. I don't care. You murdered a man who spent his last breath in this universe trying to save another life. If we are in danger, if the universe really is in trouble, nothing you have done today will help. The only thing you've done in our supposed waning hours is earn yourself a ticket straight to hell."





Ulysses silently mulled over Jack's words, then answered with a slight smirk, "I take it you're not comfortable then?" He pulled out his pocket watch, reading it's rapidly rolling display, then closed it. "Fortunately, I do have time to speak with you. And I'll begin by saying this: you, my friend, would know better than most how easy it is to take a life. Do you know what's even easier? Dying. Losing everything. Life is so very fragile, and I find that that lesson is something nature never ceases to bludgeon me with. I hate it, yet it's true. Loss is inevitable, but learning how to lose well is an art. You've won so many battles, Jack. If you had lived the same number of years as I have, I have no doubt you would be a more glorious and experienced man than I could ever claim to be. But you've been lucky; your victories have hung on very dismal threads. So let me ask you this: what will happen on the one day you lose? Nothing? You call me a coward, but I see it differently; I'm preparing for the inevitable. I've been shown things, Jack, that you cannot even begin to imagine. I can barely comprehend the scope myself. And do you know what I've taken away from it all, Jack? Hope and victory are fickle. All that matters is one thing. One. Its not saving the galaxy; we barely know what lies out our front door to make such lofty claims of "saving the galaxy." No, it's about protecting the ones we love. It's about sidestepping so-called righteous wars before they even begin. Who are you to decide who has the right to win? All that matters, at the end, is who survives. As for your hell, if there is such a place, I don't mind; in fact, if there is, I'll likely be ruling it myself before this ends, and that's not so bad. Hell is a burden I can bear, if it means the peaceful salvation of others. Besides, if there is a hell, at least I'll have you to keep me company." At this, Ulysses stepped away and the screen of Jack's cell turned cloudy. He didn't wait for a response; he didn't want one. He glanced out a nearby window. The dreadnought moved quietly away from the orbit of the colony planet, the blue curvature of the massive floating rock receding behind them. Their destination? Solehrii.

 

[LesDom]

Jack gazed at the floor as he absorbed Ulysses' words, hearing his departure. He gritted his teeth, punching the wall over and over in rage. He hated being stuck. He hated giving up. The second he stepped aboard the ship, surrendered his gear; he had given up his control. He no longer had a say in what happens in the universe, and it tore him up inside. Not knowing what was about to happen. As he stared at the crack he left in the wall, felt the throbbing in his hand, he thought of what to do next. But what was about to come next had already answered for him.


He realized he heard static. For once, the lack of feedback was hopeful for him. He pressed his fingers to the commlink still in his ear, forgotten by the soldiers as they confiscated any materials. He grinned, hastily switching channels.


"Anyone on? Anybody?" He waited, growling in desperation at the silence. "Please, anyone!" There was a long pause.


"Hello, Jack." Jack's eyes widened, suppressing a cheer. "Betty! You're still on! The ship's still on!"


"Indeed, Jack. However, no one else has their comm feed up at the moment. I am afraid that Atlas is in OGA custody, and I am the only person you can talk to."


"That doesn't matter, Betty! If you can talk to me, that means the ship's on, right?"


"Indeed, Jack. But the dreadnought hangar is currently engaged in FTL, which means any attempt at departure would be impossible."


"Also doesn't matter! If you're on, your guidance and positional function is still working, right?"


"Indeed."


"So you can tell us where we're heading?"


"Indeed, Jack. We are on a course to Solehrii, the ascendii homeplane-"


"Yeah, yeah. I know it's their homeplanet. But why the hell are we heading there?"


"I do not know. It could have something to do with the life forms currently imprisoned onboard, that do not identify in the extensive list of recorded life forms." Jack knitted his brows together, confused.


"What? There are unknown aliens on here?"


"Indeed."


"Okay, whatever. My question is, do your weapons still work?"


"Indeed, Jack. But I am concerned it will not be for long. There are soldiers aboard disabling the ship currently."


"Okay! My location's on! I want you to use the light cannons and fire a shot at my prison door."


"I can do that, however I am afraid it will harm you."


"Use 10%. Shouldn't kill me but it'll still be a good-sized explosion."


"Are you sure? This is incredibly dangero-"


"Yes! Just do it!" Jack interrupted, looking around his cell, looking for somewhere to hide. He gave up searching his bare room, walking backwards to the wall and crouching on the ground, hunched into a ball.


"Firing." Betty droned, hearing the machinery outside slowly turning. Jack prayed this didn't kill him. There was a sudden jolt, and Jack's ears popped at the loud explosion as he was thrown a few feet. He groaned, getting up as everything around him rang. He rubbed his eyes, stumbling towards the door. It was blown open. He laughed, running forward. One of the soldiers sprinted out of Atlas, alerted by the explosion. He shouted as he noticed Jack, but it was too late. Jack was on top of him in an instant, his weapon yanked from his grip and used as a bludgeon to knock the man out. Jack turned the safety off, running to the control panel on the wall, firing a shot. The emergency escape alarm rang, every prison door flinging itself open. He smiled, running back to the cells. He waved to his crew pouring out, Jack still covered in soot. "Move it, soldiers! We've got a bounty to take back."

 

[DJGomez]

Caine scoffed at Sierra. One moment she was a poser trying to act the part of a battle hardened soldier, next she was a blubbering baby. She'd better learn to grow up for her good Caine thought to himself. But what did he care, if she didn't want help them so be it. Any soldier would realize that what they fight for is what keeps them going. What allows them to endure. But Sierra wasn't a soldier, and it was wasted breath.


Caine casually walked inside the ship with the others around him. A soldier had the full to place his hand in his shoulder and try directing him. Caine stopped and looked back. "If want that hand back you better let go of me." The soldier heeded his warning and motioned him into a cell. Caine walked with a quick scan of the sparse room. There was nothing Caine could do. He sat down and began a meditation, preparing his body for what could come.


Admittedly, he wasn't expecting the explosion, it broke his mediation as he jolted up at the sight of his cell door opening and Jack covered in soot. "The crazy bastard" thought. He knew exactly what had happened. He ran out with Jack and immediately engaged another guard that was too slow to respond. He grabbed the mans arms and stepped inside, kicking one of the mans kneecaps out. He let out a screech of pain as Caine grabbed the rifle and clicked him in the head with the stock as he whipped it away. The man fell and Caine pumped two in his chest and one in his head.


He was met again by a second gaurd, which shoved a shock stick into his side. It was painful, but Caines suit negated most of the shock. He turned around as he dropped the rifle, exchanging punches and blocks with the man before giving a classic uppercut. He grabbed the arm with the shock stick and snapped it, causing the man to yelp before twisting Him around and grabbing his head before snapping it around, killing him instanly. He grabbed the radio from one of the dead gaurds and listen to their comms before tossing the other to Monroe. With that he grabbed one of the gaurds sidearms and kicked the rifle towards the nearest keeper.





@AACS @LesDom @Ulysseus @JPax42

 

[LesDom]

Jack turned his cheek as Joshua killed. Holding everyone to his standard was impossible, and at this point he didn't want anyone else getting shot, especially now that the entire crew had no armor whatsoever. He threw the loaded rifle to Apollo, pulling a pistol off one of the dead guards for his own firearm. "Okay, here's the plan. Some grunts shut off stuff inside Atlas. I need you all to hold down the hangar and get Atlas functioning again." He grabbed one of the guard's radios, pulling out the back of it and tweaking the inside. "Joshua, try channel 3220. That's the radio I'll be contacting you at. Stay here, and wait for my message." He stuffed it in his pocket, putting the pistol in the back of his jeans as he began to walk away. "See you soon."

 

[Ulysseus]

Ulysses stood in his lab, working on Kaero's corpse and one of Kaero's newly severed hands by applying a mossy substance to its palm. Then, the alarm suddenly went off. Looking up from the throbbing injection site in the hand at the video drone hovering above him, Ulysses quickly muttered, "end recording." The drone floated idly away and Ulysses sealed Kaelo's corpse and hand on their respective tables. Withdrawing an unignited baton and his pocket watch, Ulysses spoke into the watch's dial. "SAL, please send a message to every soldier onboard. Have them move to separation positions. It seems we will be ditching our new guests to ensure the comfort of our original cargo." Ulysses departed from his lab for the forward bridge. However, as he began to move in that direction he quickly changed his mind and turned left for the central cargo hold.

 

[TAINLA]

Apollo shielded himself from the impact of the explosion. As the cloud remained, he ducked out and and edged right past two slow moving soldiers. He looked around and whispered to himself "Bet you can knock them out before they-" Apollo saw the guns aimed at him. 'Oh, right.' He grabbed one by the gun and kneed him in the stomach before turning around and wrapping his wings around the second guy. Clutching harder, he heard a snap before letting go and flying out to the hallway and out to the bay with the rest of everyone else.


He slid in and caught the rifle thrown to him by Jack. "Yeah yeah got it comm line 2320, will defend point and the fetus, er, Sierra. Wait, Jack? What are you going to do?"


@LesDom @Ulysseus @DJGomez @JPax42

 

[duegxybus]

Sierra had contained herself and run out with Jack, loading one of the shock sticks she had picked up from the soldier Joshua had brutally killed. She threw it to Apollo and kicked up a pistol from another soldier. She looked at Caine, then to Apollo, who seemed to be the person to give orders in this group for now. Wait, orders. "I'm not a FETUS by the way!"


@LesDom @AACS @DJGomez @Ulysseus

 

[LesDom]

Jack stopped, turning around and facing Sierra. "You stay with the group. I'm going out alone, Perr."





"Wait, Jack? What are you going to do?" Jack grinned.


"Not sure yet! The best plans are always the improvised ones."

 

[duegxybus]

Sierra looked down, then to Jack. "Please survive though. I'll miss you." Sierra kissed Jack on the cheek, feeling his stubble against her lips. She then went back to the group and aimed her weapon everywhere. "We'll make you happy." She winked and turned.


@LesDom @Ulysseus @AACS @DJGomez

 

[TAINLA]

"Not sure yet! The best plans are always the improvised ones." Apollo nodded to Jack and caught Sierra's electric stick thing. "Thanks for that thing, and the plan is a good idea."


@LesDom @JPax42 @Ulysseus @DJGomez

 

[LesDom]

Jack raised his eyebrows, looking at her. "Er, alright. You too?" He wondered if her being seventy meant it was okay for someone that mentally young to kiss him. Probably not. He flashed a thumbs-up to the group, actually smiling at their eagerness. "You guys'll do fine." Without another word, he ran off down the hallway, out of sight. "Still got it." He muttered to himself.


He pulled his pistol out, watching the corners as he made it into a long corridor with clear windows and wiring. He kicked a door open, surveying the empty room. Jack carefully walked up to one of the monitors, the screen displaying a voice log queued up. He pressed play, listening for curiosity.


"They're finally aboard, these...creatures. Ozymandias has told us to keep away-" The door opened almost silently behind him, alerting and interrupting Jack. As he turned around with his pistol drawn, he felt an arm around his throat, choking him. His pistol fell to the floor as he put both hands on the arm, struggling to pull it above his windpipe.


"-horrid things. What we are going to inflict on the ascendii...it's horrifying. But if it will save the OGA and the human race, so be it." Jack pushed himself backwards into a wall, knocking the wind out of his attacker. He struck the man in the stomach three times with his elbow, finally feeling slack on his neck. Jack peeled the man's arm off of him, spinning around to knee him in the ribs as he shoved the soldier against the wall, afterwards throwing him to the floor. The soldier lunged on the ground for the pistol, Jack almost impressed by his effort if he wasn't about to be shot. He stepped on the man's hand, bending down to punch him in the skull. The man slumped over, unconscious. "About time..." He got up, massaging his throat as he finished the log, staring at the aliens in the video. His eyes widened, mouth open in shock. "Ody...what have you done?"

 

[Ulysseus]

Ulysses stepped out of the shadows, looking down from a catwalk above Jack. "Terrifying, aren't they?" Ulysses continued along the catwalk, overlooking a vast array of shrouded tanks. "You don't even know the half of it. I call them the Sirens; their actual name is nearly incommunicable by our standards. Indeed, our ability to understand much of anything about them is limited, although they are extremely interested in us." Ulysses stopped pacing along the catwalk, taking a firm position. He looked down at Jack. "I first discovered them myself, a long time ago. Although, more accurately, they discovered me. The form you're viewing them in on the screen is actually not their regular form, if indeed any of their forms can be deemed regular. Biologically speaking, they're rather similar to Earth's immortal jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii. They even bear a similar life cycle, although the Sirens' is far more complex. When I first came across them in an unexplored quadrant just outside the galaxy, they were rather beautiful. Like spectral spirits, like dancing crystal trees, their city came before us like a mirage. Of course, looks were... deceiving." Ulysses paused again, choosing his words carefully. "They came into my mind. Showed me things I couldn't have previously conceived. They're rather ancient, and many in number, although only a small number exist within the colonization party of our galaxy. Most of all, they are mindbogglingly patient. They have been doing this for eons. They are quite effective. And they, Jack, are the ones whom I am protecting you and your Keepers from."

 

[LesDom]

"You're going to unleash them on Solehrii?!" He stared at the ethereal creatures, floating in their tanks like wisps of black smoke. "Why?"

 

[TAINLA]

Apollo waited for about five minutes now. No soldiers have tried to apprehend the group yet. "Jack, come in. What's going on? Are you alright, and are we good to go?"


@LesDom @JPax42 @DJGomez @Ulysseus

 

[Ulysseus]

Ulysses looked down at Jack with slight grief and confusion written across his face. "Someday, you would have not won the battle, and perhaps that day may have not been today, but the Sirens will bring peace. I have assured certain securities for the select few, who will carry on the races without Siren interference. I made a necessary deal. Besides, they have something precious to me, something I will NOT lose again... Jack, don't you see? The inevitability... There was no other way."

 

[DJGomez]

Caine had noted the layout of the ship and went over it over and over, in his mind while he meditates in his cell, once he got free and regrouped with everyone, he followed his mental map back, setting his radio to 3220 as Jack had instructed and made way for the hangar where the Atlas was located. He moved through the halls quite gracefully as he checked corners and hallways with the occasional, "clear left" or "clear right". He also checked back and forth to make sure Apollo and Sierra were keeping up.


One guard rounded a corner at the same time as Caine, knocking away his hand with the pistol in it. He reacted by shooting the man in the foot as he dropped his rifle and screamed in agony. Caine finished him with two more shots to the chest a a third to the head, then grabbing his rifle and ammo. Caine was on autopilot now, it was a POW escape scenario. One he'd trained much for. His years of EM service and training took over his body as he reverted to what he knew best......kill them all.


@AACS @LesDom @Ulysseus @JPax42