Shadows from the Badlands

He hadn't really looked at the sensors, he had just assumed that it was a human ship that had answered the Bunker Hills distress signal. Humans had, from his experience at least, never had contact with another intelligent race. Only rumors existed about them spread by marginalized fringes of society. But examining the reading he was getting from the crashing ship made it clear that it was not using human technology. Even the life sensors verified it, detecting something alive, yet not human.

The shuttle was already on a decent course that would take it to the area that the computers calculated the ship would land. He keyed in the commands that would stabilize their decent, getting ready to abandon the alien craft to the mercy of the creatures that likely waited below. "What do you think, Foxworth, play hero or no?" he asked softly.

The marine looked pensive, and then seemed to make up his mind, "No. They were trying to kill us to I imagine."

As Michael finalized the command that would flare the engines to stabilize the orbit, the computers alarms screamed. A loud concussion could be heard, as an explosion rocked the ship. "Fuck, a fuel line just blew out. Looks like we don't have a choice Foxworth, get your ass strapped in," Michael yelled over the alarms, as he tried to use the remaining engine to control their decent. "I can still put us down near the alien ship, it's better then bein on our own."

The marine started to protest, but the turbulence caused by the explosion and the only semi controlled reentry into the atmosphere knocked him off his feet, and flung him painfully against a terminal. The partial armor he had managed to get on protected him from most of injury, but he was still left too winded to offer a differing opinion. Ahead of them the ships sensors that weren't blinded by the hot reentry signaled that the alien ship had touched down, almost in the exact spot predicted. His own landing perimeters had him coming down only a handful of miles away, and that distance could possible be shortened if he acted soon. He chose to and the few remaining breaking thrusters fired as they dropped past 5 kilometers up, rapidly slowing their decent.

He yelled over the noise in the cockpit, not looking back to see how the other passenger was doing "Impact in 30 seconds, we're gonna hit about 500 meters from the other ship."

The impact was jarring, Michael, secured in the pilots set had the wind knocked out of him, his armor otherwise protecting him. The marine was not so lucky. The rocking of the shuttle during an uncontrolled landing had left him unable to move from the rear of the cabin to secure himself in a padded chair. When they hit, he was thrown forward into one of the many protruding computer consoles. The armor portions of his body had been relatively unscathed, yet his stomach on one arm had still been bare.

Michael quickly unfastened himself and moved back to check on the marine. He found him still breathing, but stopped cold when he checked the marines ribs for breakage. On the marines side, hidden from his earlier inspection, was a stretched out lump. He could see it moving slightly, pulsing and quivering. The skin had thinned and he could almost see the shape of the creature gestating inside the marine. He staggered back, blindly trying to find his way to his stowed gear. He had retrieved his shotgun and had brought it up, aiming at the protrusion when the marine regained consciousness.

"I'm sorry Carson, I tried, but I couldn't. Do it, it's almost ready."

The bark of the shotgun seamed amplified in the confined quarters. The spray of blood from being multiple rounds ripping through the exposed flesh scattered a macabre sheen of blood, seeming to coat all the surfaces. Michael blindly fumbled with the controls for the airlock, suddenly needing space. He stumbled out through the door onto the rocky ground outside, and pulled is helmet off, it barely cleared his face before he vomited up the small contents of his stomach. Dry heaves racked him, causing his roiling stomach to feel like it was trying to come up out of his throat.

When his stomach quieted minutes later he made his way back inside, desperately trying to avoid looking at the scattered gore, or the body of the one and only person he had left on this miserable planet. He grabbed a small pack that would clamp seamlessly onto his armor and began loading it with as much supplies as it would hold from the emergency rations. He loaded as many spare batteries into his suit as possible, enough of a charge to last him months. He crammed as much ammo into the wrists slots, designed solely for the ease of access in a firefight, and left the ship, still unable to look at the marine who's first name he didn't even have the time to learn.

Outside he examined the horizon. Over a hill, it was painfully obvious where the alien ship had landed, as he could see a large column of smoke rising, seeming to fluoresce with the early morning light. His suit sensors were too scrambled by the noise and arching electricity from his own crashed ship to tell him if any of the creatures were nearby. He was on almost the other side of the planet from the colony, and he desperately hoped that they were just local to that area, or that he would at least of time to make it to the potentially hostile alien before having to deal with predatory bugs.

When he crested the hill, the sight left him breathless. He had known the ship that had crashed was larger then the shuttle, possibly bigger then the Bunker Hill. Seeing such a ship on the ground was rare. It looked to be made entirely out of a darkened crystal, with a style that made it look like it had been grown rather then assembled. He could see several small, things for lack of a better word, surrounding it, a gleaming darkened gold, they were moving around the ship, occasionally a beam of light would emanate from one and illuminate a section of the crystalline hull.

As he watched, he could see one drift away from the ship, and a large flash of light erupted before it, when the light faded, and he could see through the dazzle again, a structure had appeared, gently floating above the rocky soil. It continued moving about, every twenty or so meters another flash of light would occur, and another structure would appear, hugging the ground, seeming to be half buried. All the structures were made of the same darkened crystal that the ship was made of, or darkened gold of what he now assumed were robots were made of. He had no idea what any of the constructs did, and each time the light flared by the robots, his sensors flared on his suit, rendering them temporarily blind.

He was tempted to wander closer, to try and get a better look when a voice, seemingly whispered in his ear, "Do not move, human." he instinctively turned around, trying to see where it came from, and yet it seemed to come from everywhere and no where. A figure appeared in front of him, seeming to come out of non existent shadows. Before he could raise his weapon, or even get a good look at the creature to see more then a muscular build with strips of dark flowing cloth hiding most of the face and lower body. He had just taken note of the glowing eyes, which bore into his own, when pain erupted in his head. He heard it say, "I told you not to move," before he lost consciousness.