Matt Anderson + Marcus Cole
Scifi Violence | Complete
There was a high pitched scream, somewhere between the sounds of tortured machinery pressed beyond its capability and a sentient being in agony. It was a sound Marcus should never have heard again, but the sky above him rippled like an oil slick on water and opened up a hole to the formless paths of hyperspace. Out of the jump point flew the first ship, and then hole after hole opened for additional ships. There were stories told about Shadow ships, how they were so black that they swallowed the light around them, how they moved like massive spiders in space and pulsed with something closer in quality to the undead than the living ships of the other First Ones. Marcus, who knew more of the truth even than most Rangers (that undead was a fitting description, that chaos and destruction were only a side effect of their goal, that rarely, though never mercifully, they left survivors), started running through the streets of Atlantis for the base. He grabbed the first person he encountered by the arm and shoved him in the opposite direction. “Get out. Get everyone out. Head for the mountains.” There wasn't enough time. There never was, but that didn't mean he couldn't try.
At first, Matt was in the middle of the streets of London. The ARC was ahead of him, but an anomaly was shining in front of him, blocking his way. He’d thought he’d seen the last of the anomalies, and he’d never wanted to see one ever again. But Matt steeled himself and walked through it only to be transplanted not into the past or the future but back in Atlantis. Reality started to sink in of where he was supposed to be, but then suddenly he felt someone grab his arm and telling him to get out?
Matt grabbed hold of the man and pulled him to a halt. He was about to ask what the hell he was going on about, but it was about then that he looked up to the sky. “What the…” Matt had seen a lot of strange creatures and events in his life, Atlantis notwithstanding, but this was something else. Instead of heading towards the base with him, Matt pulled the man with him into a nearby shop. “I can notify Command,” he said and pulled out his phone. “What is that? Do you know?” He asked, pointing to the sky?
Marcus knew better than to panic, but it was difficult to do anything else with that sight overhead. “They're called Shadows,” he said. “Ancient beings, one of the oldest races in the galaxy - mine,” he clarified after a moment. Atlantis had records on everything in the multiverse, but Marcus was willing to bet no one else there had fought anything like them before. “Those are their ships.” As he said it, one ship flew low overhead, sending an energy beam cutting through a block of the city. The smell of scorching was familiar. He looked back at the man. “Tell Command to get any telepaths they have in Atlantis. It’s one of the few weapons that will work against them. They use people as their central computers.”
Matt listened to Marcus as the phone rang. It rang and rang without any answering service even picking up the line. “Damnit, Becker,” he said in frustration and tried again. Where the hell was he, and why wasn’t his phone already blowing up demanding that he get down to Command as soon as possible? Everyone else had to be seeing this, right?
The phone continued to ring the second time with still no response or message pickup. He then tried Carter and Blake to see if he got any answer there. Nothing. “No one is answering,” he said. Matt didn’t bother trying another time but pocketed the phone and looked back to the sky. “We’re going to need another way,” he said. “My weapons are in my office at the base. One of them is an electro muscular disruption weapon. For lack of a better explanation, it’s a highly-powered taser capable of incapacitating a T-Rex. Do any other weapons work against these things?”
Marcus swore. There had to be someone available. Had they already hit the base? “If we can get them out of their ships, and hit them with everything at full power, maybe. You don't have anything capable of creating a singularity, do you?” He wasn't entirely joking. Then again, they were organic ships. “If it's the best we have.”
What had the Shadows promised to gain an invitation into this war? It wasn't difficult to guess who had invited them, nor what they gained. A chance to rebuild not just one galaxy, but the entire multiverse.
“Not stashed away in my office,” Matt said dryly although the idea made him pause. The anomalies weren’t exactly what he meant, but they still might be able to drive the ships out of Atlantis and into another time and place… somewhere. Where they would end up was impossible to pinpoint, but under these circumstances, he wasn’t sure if it mattered. The problem was that he didn’t have the device to reopen them manually.
One of the ships passed overhead, and Matt glanced around to make sure they were in the clear. “Come on,” he said. They only had a moment, but it was a moment long enough to be able to dash out of the store and into one of the back alleys so that they could remain hidden on the way to the base.
“What is it that they want?” Matt kept his eyes peeled as they moved, trying to stay prepared for anything.
“Shame,” said Marcus, equally dryly. “I've never been lucky before. No reason I'd start now.” Although, when he thought about it, Command must have the technology they used to transport mission teams somewhere. He darted after, keeping low. Although he had, at least, run into someone with skill and experience rather than a true civilian. That was almost lucky.
His expression darkened. “Chaos, war, Social Darwinism on a universal scale. They offer themselves as allies - imagine your favorite story about a deal with the devil - and manipulate younger races into fighting each other until the strongest survive.”
“Perfect,” Matt muttered under his breath as they kept on towards the base. They paused a couple of times to make sure everything was clear and moved forward. Once they did make it to the base, Matt opened the door and rushed inside only to find the place completely empty.
“What in the hell…” Matt looked around and then back outside through one of the windows. “Something about this is very wrong,” he said and glanced over to Marcus. “Aside from the obvious.”
Not just very wrong, thought Marcus, but- “Very familiar.” Aside from the obvious. No one there to help, the citizens vulnerable when the attack came because the warning hadn’t been heeded. Almost reflexively, he touched the cloak pin that he always wore, even over his Atlantis uniform. His hand came away from the stone slippery and wet, and he looked down at the faint red streaks on his hand.
“There’s a story that when a Ranger dies, the figures on either side of the stone cry three tears: one of water and two of blood.”
And you, do you believe this?
I stopped believing in miracles a long time ago, Ambassador.
There had been no help for Arisia III because he had not heeded the warning. “We’re too late.” Somehow. Marcus shoved that thought away and wiped his hand on his trouser leg. He looked back at Matt. “They wouldn’t bother attacking an empty base unless there was something here that they considered a threat. What do you have?”
At first Matt didn’t know what Marcus meant by the story, but when he came away from the door he saw the blood on his fingers. He shook his head. “All I have here is my EMD upstairs in my office - the gun. It’s powerful, but it’s not a weapon that would call for such an attack as this. Atlantis as a whole has other technologies that could be sought after, but it still doesn’t explain the disappearances.”
He took a deep breath and scratched the back of his head. “This is unusual even for Atlantis,” Matt said and took another look out the door. “There has to be some other explanation.” Plus, the fact that he’d come through the anomaly before ever seeing Marcus was troubling him too.
“Even if certain members of command went missing, why didn’t you?” Matt asked after a moment. “Out of everyone here, you’re the biggest threat to them as they know you know who and what they are.”
It was a good question. With access to Atlantis's public records, they would know that, as well as the fact that there were no other Rangers here. They might also know - “I ignored them once,” said Marcus. He stood very still, looking out the window. “When my brother tried to recruit me. I said he was trying to play the hero, chasing legends, and I had real work to do. When they attacked the colony, he came to warn me. I watched him die. I won't ignore them again.” He breathed deeply. “Maybe not a weapon. We were mining Quantum 40 on Arisia III. It's used in jump engines.” He glanced at Matt, not sure how advanced his world was. “For hyperspace travel. I wasn't about to sign up for the Rangers back then, but doing business with them was enough. There could be something else.”
“There's no telling what Atlantis has available in its vaults that not even Becker has been told about,” Matt said. “I don't have anything of that kind that they could want.” His weapons were likely not much use to the invaders as it sounded like their technology was more advanced than what he'd known. The EMD was a favorite device of his, but he was certainly biased.
“But as far as other resources, I'm not aware of anything of that kind here. COS may be behind this, but I don't know what the reasoning behind it is other than chaos.” Matt gave a small shrugging gesture. “Which is entirely possible given their history.”
“More than possible,” agreed Marcus. Even that seemed off somehow, however. His mind raced back over his training, slipping into Minbari as he did so. It wasn't easy. He wanted to act, not wait. They taught me terror. This was what he hadn't been willing to tell Stephen. That would explain the ships, the destruction, the emptiness, but not Matt's presence. “There was a test in Ranger training, about facing one's fears.” It hadn't just been about the Shadows, however. “If that's the case, we won't be able to stop them.” They'd have already lost.
“Fears?” Matt asked, confused as to what Marcus meant. He glanced outside at the ships again, still seeing them flying overhead. Considering something, he was about to ask if he thought any of this was real at all when suddenly an anomaly opened up across the room in the middle of the base. “Shit,” he muttered. He was about to suggest they head up to the offices to search but he heard the familiar yet bone-chilling clicking sound of the creature he would have been happy never to have ever seen again in his life.
“I need my gun,” he told Marcus. “And we need to get out of this room. Now.” As he said the words, a Future Predator came through the anomaly and screeched at the two men. Now not only did they have the possible hostile takeover going on outside, the future was about to invade Atlantis too.
Marcus had been prepared to see one of the Shadows or their thralls enter the room, but not the creature that came through the… portal? Wormhole? Matt clearly recognized it, however, and it certainly looked dangerous enough. “I'll take your word.” This seemed more and more like a nightmare or some kind of virtual reality, but Marcus did not want to trust that it couldn't do damage all the same. He reached for the metal cylinder at his waist and clicked the button, extending it into his pike. Better an armed retreat. “Grab the gun. I'll cover you.”
At first Matt was frozen in place. Not out of fear but out of necessity. He didn’t have time to explain the details yet, but as soon as the creature turned the other direction, he was off towards the elevator. It didn’t take long for the creature to notice and came at them. As soon as Marcus was inside the elevator with him, Matt jammed the button for the correct floor and breathed a sigh of relief that the doors closed in time.
“They’re mutated and highly-evolved creatures from the future,” He said, watching the numbers go up on the screen. “They were created using bat and lion DNA, among others, but most importantly, they are blind but have a highly advanced high-frequency sonar system and can sense any heat or movement. Incredibly fast and agile, and they’re bloody smart.” Too smart.
The elevator dinged open, and the two men walked quickly down the hallway to Matt’s office where he kept his EMD. He also knew that he needed to find the anomaly-locking device, but that wasn’t in his possession. Either Becker or the vault had that. “This will stun it for a few moments but not kill it. It’s resistant to most gunfire, but a direct shot to the head will end it.”
“So, it is nightmare day in Atlantis,” said Marcus more tensely than jokingly. He made a note to pick up a blaster of his own. “So how do we deafen it?” There had to be a way to counteract the creatures’ abilities. “The Shadows communicate outside human-audible frequencies. Could those things pick them up?” he wondered aloud.
“What if it is?” Matt asked but more so of an observation rather than a question. He’d thought it earlier but had been distracted by the opening of the anomaly. What if none of this was real and he was living inside of one of what could have been a version of his nightmares?
About the creature's’ abilities, though, Matt thought for a moment and then shook his head. “No. No, I don’t think they’d be able to pick that up. Their frequencies operate higher than a human’s, but theirs is more so with their vision.”
So much for pitting their enemies against each other. “If it is,” said Marcus. “We might be fighting something more than Shadows or future monsters. Something-” he paused. Not worse, exactly. This was the worst he could imagine coming to Atlantis. “That wants us distracted.” If so, it was doing a good job. Marcus was on edge, watching every window and doorway, every turn in the corridor.
“Distracted?” That got Matt’s attention. He knew from the start that none of this made sense. From the way the anomaly had shown up to everyone else in the city being nowhere to be found. While thinking about his own situation and the way it affected him, why it affected him, he turned back to Marcus.
“These Shadow ships. Are they something you’ve feared in your world?”
“Yes,” said Marcus briefly. The Minbari taught that one must overcome fear, not deny it. They'd taken his Arisia III, William, Catherine. Even the Earth Alliance ships they'd fought in Sector 300 had used Shadow technology. Perhaps he'd never shaken the expectation that they would take what was left.
“This might sound a little crazy….,” Matt started. “But do you think this is real? This place rarely makes sense, but this is a bit much even for Atlantis. The reason they’re here doesn’t make sense, and everyone else having disappeared…” He shook his head. “What is this is a simulation or some kind? A test.”
“A test,” Marcus repeated. “I don't think anything is too crazy for Atlantis.” True, the Shadows had been known to attack out of nowhere in the past, but it still seemed out of place here and now, especially with the absence of people. “Losing to them again - I think you're right.” He'd never feared dying for the cause, only living through defeat.
On the heels of the thought, he began to hear other voices, somewhere, as if from a distance. “I don't think this is real,” Marcus confirmed.
Matt looked down at the gun in his hand. They’d been up here long enough for the predators to have tried following them by now. He could still feel his heart pounding in his chest from the fear that they’d reappear and attack, but for some reason they were taking their time, and that was another piece that wasn’t quite right.
“Me either,” he agreed with Marcus. “It’s almost as if they took our fears and made them a reality somehow.” He didn’t elaborate on the predators being a fear of his, but the caution he’d exhibited on the main floor had probably given that much away.
“What if-...” He stopped talking when had the feeling of his mind being pulled away. Almost like the sensation of his subconscious hanging onto a dream but his body was trying to wake up. When he was about to finish his question, Matt noticed that Marcus’ form was starting to fade away or maybe he was the one who was fading. It didn’t take much longer for the base to fade away and his eyes opened in another place entirely. Medical.
The base grew even more out of focus as Matt spoke, and the voices at the edge of Marcus's hearing grew louder and more clear. He recognized Jyn's voice, and a few heartbeats later, he was looking at her profile, lit by stark hospital lights.