episode ii the sleeper

8/8/2019 Episode II the Sleeper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/episode-ii-the-sleeper 1/4

Episode II: The Sleeper.

Darkness shrouded everything, a veil of thick murky darkness, covering allsenses and thoughts until they were as vague as the outline of the shroud itself.Marcus struggled to open his eyes but to no avail, he could hear a constant

throbbing, a sound that accompanied his many nightmares from that fateful day.Of the encounter he remembered very little, a day as all others on the brokenremnants of Landra's cities. He and his men were patrolling one of the cities andwaited there for some days in wait of Xyzal troops, troops they smashed to thevery ground when they showed their face. Then something came that none hadseen before, a creature of such ferocity and strength not even Knights could holdat bay. He could still hear the agonizing moan of Valen's Knight as it fell to theground, the crack of a thundering sound when Jonas' Knight was pounded, thehideous hiss of the creature as it lashed at him one last time…

*****

Cellus stepped through the bio scanner, half afraid the alerts will sound,even though he had gone though that a thousand times over in his service forthe Coalition. His eyes trailed around the room before stopping on the form of the man lying on the bed with dozens of tubes entering and fleeing his brokenbody, bruises covered most of his flesh, his head was covered by a helmet thatwould allow him to breathe and ensure the stability of his condition for as long asit was necessary for him to recover. A sigh escaped his lips and for a moment hethought the man twitched, he dispelled the thought as absurd, it was two monthsnow since they brought him here and all this time there has been no

improvement in his condition despite the valiant efforts of more than a hundredmedics.

He thought it cruel to keep him alive, whereas death would most likely besalvation in his state but dismissed the thought reciting the oath of the CoalitionMedics that demanded him fight for a man's life even to the very end of his own.He sat at the control terminal and gazed at the monitors displaying the man'scondition. Still no change, his brain activity sparked and peaked at times butmostly it was a still line crossing thousands of pages of data, the mind of a lostsoul.

A frown came to his lips and he leaned backwards, it was his second shiftbeside the Sleeper, as the rest on board the CFS Devil's Bane, called him.Marcus, they said his name was, one of the finest pilots the Coalition had to offerand Baron of House Dakrand of Ivani. His loss brought great grief to those of hisHouse and in his honour each Knight that went to battle from that hated dayforth had its visor painted black with a stripe of white running down its centreand a banner of same design flowing from its weapons, the markings of his ownKnight.

He leaned back on the comfortable seat, it was going to be as long anduneventful shift as last time, he thought his time wasted beside the Sleeper, he

could be saving one's life instead of baby sitting someone already gone, hemumbled something under his breath and sighed, he then reached for the holo-



panel and studied the news while at the same time glancing at the patient'scondition monitors…

*****

There were some faint sounds amidst the darkness, followed by longerpauses, Marcus struggled to reply, to speak, to ask what it was but his lips wouldnot part, he felt helpless, contained within his own body, what was once thehome of his soul would ironically now become its prison. Images raced before hiseyes in a mocking pattern, reminding him of what he once was and what hetreasured, some vague and some as clear as his reflection on one of the Crystallakes of Ivani. His mind slowed suddenly, the image of his home drifting in andout of existence until it remained still and seemed to grow more intense incolours, as if wishing to mock his battered mind.

He sighed though he was certain that his body did not portray that, he feltalmost nothing aside the constant throbbing and the sensation of some liquidflowing in his body or was it out of? Such things were too uncertain as was hisstate, he could think, yet not feel, he would speak, yet not be heard. Painwreaked his mind suddenly, instead of flinching he rejoiced, he felt things hethought long lost and in his jubilation, or perhaps by the random flexing of astirring muscle, he managed to move his fingers…

*****

It was a long and strenuous task, patrolling the vast corridors of the Devil's

Bane in case something of alien origin was caught in the power conduits andmanaged to find its way into the ship to threaten the lives of her crew,something the members of the 6th CoSec Squad knew too well. Theirs was themundane task of searching for any sign of trouble and eliminating it, strangely orperhaps not so, there has never been any report of alien organisms onboard anyof the Coalition Fleet Spaceships yet they run those long walks up and downgantries and endless corridors that lead into parts of the ship unvisited for manymonths.

One of the Squad members, Pand his name, hoisted the pulse rifle to reston his shoulder then mumbled something under his breath. The rest shared the

sentiment but none commented, their patrol had just began and they had sixlong hours of marching yet to do. Another Squad member, Telon, leaned backagainst the wall and gazed idly out of the window at the passing nebulae. Itappeared they were deep into Coalition space at this point, safe from harms way,or so they thought.

There was a high-pitched sound and a sudden vibration, the ship seemedto shift lightly of its course, everyone froze and instantly lowered their weapons. The whine of the bio-scanners followed and from then on, none of the 6th CoSecSquad would complain about their patrols…

*****



The airlock was blasted apart from outside causing the cold air of space toseep through end embrace the ships' interiors. Panels flared into existence and ashimmering field was brought to life effectively shutting the air back thoughallowing passage both ways. The sound of scratching could be heard some

corridors down and rose from that specific point in the ship's hull. Slinkingchitinous forms poured from the hole and into the Devil's Bane, at first notmeeting any resistance they made their way down each path, seeming to besearching for something.

Pulse fire echoed from all over the ship as each inch of corridor wascontested between men and alien alike. The Coalition Troops were well trainedno doubt, their weapons bit hard and tore the aliens without much effort, thealiens appeared to be endless in numbers and regardless how many fell morewould rush to substitute them. Cries of agony followed shortly, as the aliens'razor sharp claws hideously mutilated the first CoSec troops. Then the Marines joined the fight.

The steady chatter of pulse weapons grew louder as the Coalition Marinesdid what they were trained to do, defend the ships and eliminate any threat tothe Coalition. Aliens fell in dozens, perhaps hundreds to the Marines superiorcombat skills, nothing managed to reach them in time to even scratch their thickplasteel armours and for a moment, it seemed that the ship would hold andeveryone would survive intact as the aliens were beaten back to the opening.

Then with a hideous sound the aliens seemed to merge, two, three,

perhaps more together, forming massive creatures that stood well taller than anaverage man. With a hiss of defiance they flung themselves on the Coalitiontroops again, only this time pulse fire did not bite their flesh but only scarredtheir chitinous plating, grenades would not penetrate their hide and even theheavier blasters would only slow them down. Then came the slaughter…

*****

Marcus felt something stir inside him, something that he had not feltbefore, a fire of unknown origin to awaken his dormant body after all this time,how long had it been he did not know but he was certain it was more than long

enough. He felt a tugging, something calling to him, a faint whisper thatsuddenly echoed in his mind, he heard his own name and some words thatwhere nothing he could recognise. An eerie light built up in his mind, heinstinctively tried to shut his eyes but to no avail. There was a form, a femaleform, so graceful and beautiful she could be no mortal woman.

Her body was armoured, encased in glistening metal that reflected theeerie light brightly, a cloak of dark blue draped from her shoulders and fastenedwith a broach hosting a pulsing green gem. In her hands, she held a long weaponthat reached from the ground to above her head, and ended in two deadly

looking crystalline blades. A long ribbon scribed with words of unknown meaning



and origin was tied on the upper portion of her weapon, slightly short of theblade, and dangled to the ground.

He heard her speak again and though her face was concealed behind theelegant visor he could almost feel her penetrating gaze. He felt his heart race,

his breath became erratic and slowly yet surely his body responded, longdormant muscles flexed to life, tendons strained and after a very long time hecould feel the touch of the air on his skin. A shiver run down his spine and inresponse his body twitched, he took a deep breath and smiled, as his body finallyseemed to react…

*****

Cellus gaped at the monitor; blinking heavily he watched the panels cometo life and the readings turning from those of a lost man to a fully healthyperson. Fingers nervously danced on the keypad trying to verify the integrity of the readings and when the computer validated that he could almost scream with joy. He turned to face the man and what he saw made him drop back. Hereached for the emergency lockdown but something shouted sharply in his mind,he froze for seconds before he felt a gauntleted hand clenching around hisshoulder and then everything went black…

episode ii the sleeper

Documents