Ivan's Fist Story

Ch.1

Ivan and Kosov escorted their prisoner Johnson back to the base. The heavy metal perimeter created a sense of security in troubled times. It was strange, Ivan thought, how the cold steel gave him a sense of comfort and peace.

Ivan stood tall and proud, his cybernetic implants invisible underneath his skin. Next to him Kosov towered, his messy brown hair and dark green eyes gave him a somewhat frightening appearance. Their prisoner, Johnson, was a dark skinned sniper, they had captured him when an artillery shell knocked over the tree he was hidden in.

The trio passed by a T-152B experimental warp tank. It was a marvel of engineering that would allow their forces to be anywhere anytime. The sunlight reflected off its brand new 120mm gun. Six such tanks stood in two rows of three, it appeared that they were getting ready for an operation.

Only seconds later the wail of a siren was heard, the base was under attack. Ivan waited for the characteristic rattle of gunfire to fill the sky, but it never did. Johnson looked nervously into the sky,"It's time."

"Time!?" Ivan face was stricken with fear.

"My comrades have launched a nuclear missile. We're going to die here." Johnson was remarkably well composed.

Ivan looked around in desperation, the base was not designed to withstand such a hit and there was no way to clear the blast... Ivan's eyes fell upon the T-152B's.

"Like hell we are!" He grabbed Kosov who immediately understood. The two hopped into the tank. Johnson just stood there, staring into the sky. For that moment Ivan saw not a prisoner of war, but a fellow human being, one who deserved to live as much as he did. "Hey you coming!?"

Johnson, who was fully expecting to be left behind, gave a startled yell and climbed into the tank. Kosov desperately searched for the jump drive's computer controls. Ivan looked into the sky and saw a single spark. The spark grew to a blinding light that dwarfed the setting sun. Ivan shielded his eyes and closed the hatch of the tank.

Ivan felt a wave of heat wash over his body and prepared to die. Moments later Ivan realized that he was not dead, the tank had survived the blast!

Ivan opened the hatch waiting to see a radioactive wasteland, this was not the case. The tank had not survived the blast, Kosov had made a jump right before they were vaporized.

Glancing around himself Ivan saw nothing but jungle. "Kosov, where are we?"

Kosov read the display,"Felarya, population unknown, resource rich, black danger classification. Recommended operation group size: Three armored divisions supported by antiaircraft guns."

"Well lets not sit around, Kosov can you get us home?"

Kosov plotted the appropriate coordinates and began the jump. A whine followed by a loud bang was heard, then nothing. "Oh shit."

"What's oh shit?" Johnson asked nervously,"Oh shit doesn't build confidence."

Kosov replied with badly hidden distress,"We just lost all power. The reactor is shot and it's beyond my ability to fix."

"Damn, then I guess well be calling Felarya home for a while." Ivan spat. He then hopped out of the tank and opened a large box on the back.

He pulled out a 7.62 mm rail gun, a SMG, ammo and food for several days. Kosov was the second out and he picked a 90mm rocket launcher, a SMG, ammo and food. Ivan gestured to Johnson,"We're in this together now so I need you packing."

Johnson simply nodded and reached for a 12.7mm sniper rifle, a handgun, ammo and food. Ivan simply tilted his head indicating that the group should leave.

"What does a black danger level mean?" Johnson asked.

"It's a classification for a habitable planet with only the most dangerous of creature living on it. More or less effective colonization would require a tremendous amount of resources."

The group walked slowly through the brush. Ivan's foot met no resistance and he barely avoided tumbling off a large cliff. "Woah!"

"Hey, get a look at this." Johnson whispered,"What do you suppose that is?"

Ivan and Kosov leaned over the cliff to see a massive creature, it was almost three hundred feet in length. The creature had the body of a girl from the waist up, and the body of a snake from the waist down. "Well I'll be it's a Naga." Ivan muttered.

Suddenly the Naga slithered up a large tree. The three humans watched in curiosity as another pair of humans walked carelessly into the clearing where the Naga had been.

"You don't think..." but before Kosov could finish the Naga sprang fourth and grabbed each of the humans in a hand. She then shoved them in her mouth and swallowed.

The Naga rolled onto her back and lie there, the lump in her throat slowly working its way to her stomach. Ivan watched in horror as the Naga's belly gurgled to the screams of the victims. Only when she winked at him and licked her lips did Ivan snap to.

"Move." Ivan urged,"Now!" The trio began a fast jog away from the cliff face. They didn't stop for several miles.

Finally as night fell on the Felaryan jungle Ivan and his men found a patch of tall grass and decided to set up camp. As the trio ate prepackaged food, none of them spoke a word fearful that they might face a similar fate to the two humans before.

Ivan was the first to speak,"We sleep in shifts tonight, I want both of you awake tomorrow. There are other humans out there, possibly even cities. If were going to survive well need to find them."

Ivan took the first watch, though he noticed that Kosov and Johnson only fell asleep after exhaustion had sapped away their ability to think about the events earlier. Ivan sighed, he knew he would sleep no better this night.

It was brief and to the point, and I can appreciate that. I do think a little more detail would help the story though. Their first experience with the dangers of Felarya should probably be very traumatic and I think they were for that group to an extent but it all passed by so quickly that I didn't really feel it, if you get what I'm saying. I'm not sure if any of that makes sense.

It makes plenty of sense, and I find myself agreeing with you, their first experience is to brief, this will be fixed later. I appreciate that you took the time to read it.