Roswell: Survivor (D2)
Vadir Kor is a survivor on a ship besieged. If he is to survive, he must take his chances on the planet below or perish like everyone else.
About: Roswell begins before the incident with a alien named Vadir Kor forced to leave his ship behind as it succumbs to a threat his people had once escaped. With nowhere else to run, Vadir’s only hope now lies with Earth.
The ship’s alarms rang through his head, and his bloodied grey fist met the door’s panel; Vadir dared to risk a glance back before throwing himself across the threshold. The two heavy blast doors slammed together, catching the black, demon-like Primor in their grasp. He hit the ground hard while his Aethr plasma rifle clattered nearby. He had no time to rest as he caught sight of the monster desperately trying to part the doors. Vadir grabbed the rifle and exhausted the last of its stored aether. Its explosive power proved enough to push the beast back. The doors finally slammed shut. Enraged, the attacker hurled itself against the reinforced door, leaving behind only an ever-growing, bulging dent.
The blast doors would not hold for much longer. For Vadir Kor, all that mattered now was surviving this nightmare. That meant getting off this doomed vessel by any means necessary. He estimated that he had only minutes before the ship’s current trajectory saw it breach the Terran world’s outer atmosphere. He checked the rifle at his side; its sphere-shaped aether converter had ruptured, rendering it useless. He resigned himself to leave without it. Once back on his feet, he hurried down the ramp and found the unguarded transport ship. After listening to the ship-wide comms, he learned that his fellow Kaskari were rallying elsewhere. A single transport slipping into the darkness would likely go unnoticed in the current chaos. Cowardly as this may be, I’m just an engineer. I’m no soldier.
He approached a nearby monitoring station that would allow him to interact with the ship’s AI. He entered the command to lower the ship’s ramp. The response that followed did not surprise him.
On whose authority?
He sighed while plugging in the card he had taken from a dead officer.
Ramp deploying.
A series of loud, continuous bangs from behind him made him half-turn. Please, please hold that a little bit longer. He removed the card and entered the transport ship, hurrying to the cockpit at the front. The first thing he did was plug the card into the console and raise the ramp. He ran through the preparations for take-off when one of the crew members stumbled from the shadows, dragging themselves forward and covered in that dreaded black sludge. They were a lost cause.
“Ship—” the words had barely escaped his lips when the symbiote within this man took over his body. It burst from his shoulder in a spray of tendrils and liquid, forming across the body, the Primor’s exoskin. Now clad in deep black, crystal-like wings erupted from its back, curled forward, and unleashed a torrent of potent aether crystals at the front view screen.
“Fire! Fire! FIRE!” Vadir shouted, pushing himself back into the pilot’s chair as the black spikes exploded against the thankfully reinforced screen. He didn’t want to test how long it would hold and leaned forward, keying in the final set of preparations for launch. “No more delays! We’re leaving.”
The plasma turrets on the top and underside of his transport ship began their assault on the creature. While it stood its ground and tried using its now hardened wings to shield itself from the turret blasts, it could not withstand the intense heat and explosive firepower forever. Its body broke and disintegrated, leaving him wondering if it could even come back from that. His heart raced as he heard more scrambling noises. This time, it came from on top of his ship. They simply don’t know when to quit!
“Tracking a single hostile entity,” the ship AI stated candidly. “They are intending to breach.”
The monster that was chasing me! As if on cue, the ceiling heaved and bent, and steam began pouring out from the ruptured pipes. It filled the troop seating area behind him. “Don’t just tell me. Deal with them, too!”
The AI obliged, and the topside turrets did their part, melting whatever resided on top. Black congealed blood dripped down the front view screen as Kor fastened himself in, and the ship took off. It wasn’t long before he had exited the hangar, and for the first time since this mess began, he allowed himself to relax a little. He marvelled at the view of the blue and green jewel below. He had found his salvation, but it had come at the cost of everything behind him. The Dauntless hull turned an intense mix of orange and yellow as it hit the atmosphere. Hull, debris, and more parted from the ship. An explosion nearby catapulted Kor towards the embrace of the alien world. It took a few moments for the gyros to orientate the ship, and he soon sank into the chair. At least for now, the worst was behind him.
He spent a few minutes calculating the best approach and realised he was more than spoilt for choice, but this planet was new to him. He wouldn’t know where to begin. He wanted to avoid major population centres, and Earth, despite its majesty, was also inhabited by Terrans. The risk to his life would be too great. In the end, he put his faith in the automated system. Once it finished its calculations, it set him on course to land. Unsurprisingly, the people below did not take too kindly to this. The ship’s radar soon showed multiple red dots approaching, and the autopilot reacted accordingly. It began a series of automated combat manoeuvres, dodging most of the laser fire from the inbound strike craft. The ship dipped again before it returned fire, and beads of sweat rolled down Vadir’s cheeks as the transport lurched this way and that. Were those some kind of drone?
He considered overriding the combat subroutines, but then he would have to land manually. For a brief moment, he wondered if the Terrans would respond to his hails. Before he could attempt this, something else captured his attention. The loud, repeated clanking and hissing made him hope it was merely the loosened wires above him, but it was much worse, for out of the corner of his eye, a tall, bulbous mass descended from the hole in the ceiling. Its long black claws scraped against the metal floor as it slithered towards him. Vadir remembered he still had his plasma Kelcior pistol, but by the time it would take to leave his chair, the foul Primor would be upon him. Without moving too much, he keyed in commands for the ship to shift direction.
The sudden tilt caught the creature by surprise, and it fell towards him before striking the glass screen. Cracks began to spread from where it now lay, and it quickly realised the danger. Bladed tendrils rose from its back as it scrambled in vain to regain its feet. He even caught it trying to transform its arm into a biorifle. Vadir wasn’t about to give it a chance to hit him with either. Without hesitation, he fired a few plasma shots around the creature, enough to shatter the glass, sending the Primor out of the ship and into the embrace of the world below.
“Ship, lower the visor!” The alarms and howling ceased abruptly when the ship’s metal screen slammed into place, and a series of holographic images were projected so that he had a rough idea of what was happening around him.
“Captain,” said the AI.
“What is IT now?”
“I had engaged auto-evasion and combat subroutines, but by issuing a manual order, I need to recalculate our entry and combat against Terran aggression.”
“Do what you have to do.”
“Understood. I will assume direct control from this point forward.”
The ship jerked up from its nosedive and took caution to evade the relentless inbound threats from the Terran drones.
“I’ve marked the optimal landing area,” the ship AI reported. “I can’t promise a smooth landing.”
“Thought as much. Is there any way we can open communications with the Terrans?”
“I’ve been attempting to. However, I am receiving no response. I don’t think they understand my request.”
“Of course they wouldn’t.”
The next few seconds were spent approaching the designated landing area. The onboard turrets continued to hold the determined drones at bay.
“Engage the emergency landing protocol.”
“But, Captain?”
“Just do it!”
The drones came in too close and exploded upon contact. The blast reverberated and struck the ship’s right side. Though the hull held, the ship shuddered violently as Vadir took back control and pulled the ship up moments before it met the ground. The sudden impact brought only a resounding silence and for the Kaskari known as Vadir Kor, an uncertain darkness followed.
Poor Vadir; he faces a great deal of difficulty in his efforts and it was very exciting for the reader, although it ws pretty chalenging for him.
I'll be back for part two.