SINclair

PROLOGUE 

In the year 2032, a ship called “Antaeus” was brought back from the floor of the Pacific Ocean. The Antaeus was a cruiser, an adaptive cruiser. It has technology that no one had ever seen before. The technology consisted of things like "Soulcatcher Chips", nanotechnology and it had a 'life'. 

The Antaeus was brought back to stop a terrorist group that was preparing for one of the largest assaults in human history. The Antaeus succeeded, but was hunted down by the government it's captain was working for; the government got corrupted. 

The Antaeus fought the troops and ships of the new enemy with success; the government was overthrown. From that point on, the Antaeus became a very interesting topic for scientists. They dismantled the Antaeus and they carbondated it's parts. 

And that's where the story of the Shroud begins. 

The carbondating pointed out that the Antaeus' materials were approximately 10,000 years old. The scientists were astounded. They started experimenting with the materials and they created a ship: the type 1 Shroud. It had light weaponry and a cloaking device. One of the scientists also installed one of the Soulcatcher Chips without knowing what it was. 

The Shroud got a mind of it's own -the mind of a helicopter pilot named Ransom, who was shot down during a mission- and it started killing everyone in it's path, one by one. When Ransom was done, he fled, but he got shot down by the national army. 

A new group of scientists was brought in to research the Soulcatcher chips. The discovered that the chips contained the souls of deceased soldiers and pilots. To see if the chips still worked, they constructed 8 more space ships, all different types of Shrouds. When everything was installed, one of the scientists asked something about the Antaeus. The ships didn't like it and they did the same thing like Ransom before them; they killed every scientist. And they too got destroyed by the army. 

After these incidents, the government decided to stop with Project Antaeus Rising. They destroyed the entire complex, now known as Black Mesa. But what they didn't know, was that the materials from the Antaeus survived the nuking. 

The nanotechnology from the Antaeus gathered a lot of information from all the testing. And the nanoprobes started to construct a space ship... 

Present day, October 9, 2362. 

This morning, the Western Alliance received a distress signal from Earth. They sent out a patrol team (including yours truly) to investigate the soure of the signal. We got there in our trusted dropship, called the Fatboy. We got out and we discovered that we were standing in the middle of Black Mesa. What we didn't know, was that the nanoprobes of the Antaeus took over the facilities. 

Thanks to the probes, we all got separated from each other. And if that wasn't enough, everyone in my team got killed in different, but creative ways. I was the only one left. 

Some doors opened and I stepped through them. I walked through the main complex until I walked into a hangar. The doors closed behind me and I was trapped. I tried to open the doors, but it didn't work. So I decided to look around in the hangar... 

Suddenly, a ship decloaked in front of me. I was mesmerized. The ship called me and I got on board. The ship closed it's cockpit and automatically I started up the engines. I flew the ship out of there, not knowing that it was a type 10 Shroud, an extremely dangerous Shroud...

The Resurrected Danger.

Not long after I left the Black Mesa ruins with the Shroud X, the flagship of the Western Alliance, the ANS Reliant, was informed of the situation through the built-in distress signals and detailed mission describers in the other soldiers’ suits. When the details got deciphered, everyone on the command deck of the Reliant were horrified. What happened in Black Mesa? How did it happen? And most of all, why did it happen? No one knew. The same questions arose when the captain and the leader of the 45th Squadron found out that I was alive. They had to find me...
  “...this is unbelievable!”, captain Foster yelled, “Everyone’s dead, except for Stryker?!” “Yes, sir,” Red Fox replied calmly. Red Fox is the 45th Squadron leader. Foster sighed. He asked: “Do you happen to know where Stryker is?” “No sir, it appears that he took off in a special space ship, that’s invisible to our sensors.” “He just took off?,” asked Foster, “Find him! And bring him in! I think he has something to do with the massacre of his team!” “But sir...,” Red Fox started. “No buts, Red Fox, this is a direct order!”
Red Fox sighed, “Yes sir, I’ll send in the squadron to intercept him...” “Good,” Foster said.

In the meantime, I tried to get away from Earth as fast as possible, so I put ‘the pedal to the metal’. In no time, the Shroud reached Warp 5.5, which means that the ship was flying with a spped that was 5.5 times faster than the speed of light. And with Warp 5.5, it reached it’s top speed. The speed was a bit too high for me and I passed out. The Shroud engaged the autopilot. The Shroud flew on autopilot for a couple of hours, until we reached a spacestation.
  “Stryker...,” the Shroud’s computer said, “Wake up.” I didn’t respond, because there was a lack of oxygen and blood in my brains. “Wake up, Stryker.” The Shroud became a bit impatient. “STRYKER!” “Wuh... uhh... wah...? Where am I?”, I asked. The Shroud replied with the words: “We’re on Deep Space 12.” “DS12?”, I asked, still dazed, “Why on Earth are we on Deep Space 12?” “I got damaged, and I need to repair myself before we can continue,” the Shroud said. I looked at the console in front of me and I asked, somewhat amazed: “Repair yourself? You can do that?” “Yes.” And suddenly, I recognized the voice. I said: “I know your voice... but from where...?” The Shroud answered: “I am the voice who appeared in your wildest dreams, I am the one who kept you safe from harm.” After hearing those words, I got really confused. I slowly asked: “Are you... Sinclair...?” Sinclair was one of the Soulcatcher chips that was supposed to be destroyed. The Shroud replied: “Yes, I am Sinclair.” “H-how did you survive...?” “The Antaeus technology is highly adaptable, we just adapted very quickly to the new  conditions. That’s all you need to know for the time being.” “But how...” “Reparations are complete, we can continue our journey,” Sinclair said, with a voice that somehow hypnotized me. “Yes sir,” I replied, completely in trance. I revved up the engines and we continued our journey, to a treacherous place called The Briar Patch, but what we didn’t know, was that a pack of Western Alliance Predators was following us, right into the Patch...

The Briar Patch.

We entered the Briar Patch 10 minutes after we left Deep Space 12. In my head, I heard Sinclairs order to slow down to ¼ impulse. I complied. I slowed the Shroud down to the designated speed and we came across the first of a long ‘line’ of space anomalies nicknamed ‘Cygnus Rifts’…
 I got a bit nervous, because the Patch was known to be a very dangerous nebula, filled with quantum singularites, so I tried to calm myself by humming a relaxing song called Force Of Gravity. 
“Could you stop with the humming?,” Sinclair asked. “It’s getting annoying.” 
“Sorry, but I’m a bit nervous,” I replied. 
Sinclair sighed. “I know you’re tense, but do you really have to hum? I despise humming.” 
“Then what do I have to do? Should I sing or something?” I said. 
Before Sinclair could reply, we flew right into a thick part of  one of the rifts. The Shroud shook heavily and I almost hit my head against the cockpit window. “Sorry about that,” said Sinclair. 
I asked, really annoyed: “Couldn’t you at least warn me?” 
“Hey, you were the one who was rambling!” exploded Sinclair. 
I replied calmly with: “I’m sorry about that, but that’s no reason for you to start shouting.” And after that, Sinclair ran silent. I became silent as well, because when I looked at the sensors -they are very sensitive-, I spotted a couple of disturbances behind us.

“Alpha 10 to Red Fox, we’re in visual range of the suspect.”
“Good. Alphas, switch to active cloak.” Red Fox commanded.
“Alpha 1 cloaking,” the Alpha leader said, “Radio silence, starting… now.”
The other ships cloaked as well and they moved into attack pattern “Omega”. They were preparing to surround us.

I saw the Preds disappear an I knew that they were going to attack us, but Sinclair didn’t seem to notice. I got a bit tense and I looked at the controls above my head. I found a button that seemed to be part of an advanced assault system. My mouth hung open when I investigated the other controls. 
Sinclair noticed my ‘curiosity’ and asked: “What are you looking at?”
“I err… I got a bit curious and I looked around a bit,” I said with a weak voice.
“I see,” Sinclair replied, “you were trying to shut me down, weren’t you?”
“No, I was wondering what kind of weapons you had.”
“You could’ve just asked, you know.”
I mumbled: “Sorry.”
Sinclair started to lighten up a bit. “It’s okay,” he said as if he were smiling. I shuddered lightly. Could his emotions be real, like that of a human? Argh, what was I thinking? Sinclair was a machine with programmed emotions, nothing more. And there was nothing I could do to change it if I wanted. Unless…
I looked at the last known location of the hunting Predators. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were close… 

Assault and Possession…

“Alpha leader to Red Fox, we’re approaching the target.”
“Good. Fire on my mark.” Red Fox replied.
“Awaiting authorization to fire.” the Alpha leader said.
After 30 seconds, Red Fox gave the order to open fire. The Predators decloaked and fired at us with their laser lances. We got hit badly, but Sinclair regenerated his shielding, came about at starboard and opened fire at the Predators.

I pressed some buttons in an attempt to stop Sinclair, but I failed. The slugs of Sinclair’s railguns ripped through the shielding and cockpit of the leading ship, instantly killing Alpha Wing’s leader. The Predators broke formation and started to fire at will. We got hit near the engines, but Sinclair managed to repair them quickly. Sinclair cloaked, rotated 180 and slugged the nearest target. The Predator exploded when one of the slugs destroyed the engine. After destroying the second Pred, Sinclair flew into a nebula and cloaked. The remaining Predators followed. Sinclair slowed down and I saw the Predators passing below us. The Predators flew out of the nebula and they couldn’t detect that we were still in the nebula…
 “Where is he…?” Alpha 2 asked. Alpha 4 replied: “I don’t know, I can’t see them on sensors…”
Sinclair decloaked and started attacking the 3 Predators in the rear. The attacked Predator started to spin around it’s Z-axis in an attempt to dodge Sinclair’s plasma bolts and slugs. This made Sinclair angry. He fired some heat seeking missiles and he blew up the third ship. And this made me very mad. I took Sinclair’s controls and I wanted to move him into another direction. But then I saw something frightening. I saw that I was directing Sinclair to his next target instead of turning him away from it! My mind wanted to save my fellow Wing members, but thanks to Sinclair’s influence, I was destroying them! I got caught in a fast but nasty dogfight with the fourth ship. After getting hit a couple of times, I returned the favor with Sinclair’s secret weapon. Pred number 4 was turned into junk with some flesh floating between the debris. I let go of the controls and I tried to open the cockpit.
Sinclair asked: “What are you doing?” “I’d rather die than to kill my friends!” I replied. “Sit down,” Sinclair said. He moved a bit and I fell back into my seat. Sinclair fired his laser lances and they literally tore the last Predator apart. I was devastated as well. Sinclair resumed his previous course and said nothing. I sat back and I started to think about what had happened during the fight. How could it be that my body was doing different things than my mind wanted? I tried to ask Sinclair, but I couldn’t make any sound. And then it hit me like a shot from a sniper: Sinclair controlled my body! I closed my eyes and prayed that I was dreaming. But I wasn’t and I knew that. I just couldn’t accept it. I cleared my mind and I managed to ask: “Where are we going?” “We’re going to the planet Banzure Prime,” was the answer. “Banzure Prime?,” I asked, “You mean the place with the Xenome infestation?” “Yes, but the Xenomes are long gone, trust me,” Sinclair replied. When Sinclair said that, I thought: ‘Trust you? Never.’, but I said: “Do I have a choice?” “Nope,” Sinclair replied. I sighed. “Great, now I’m stuck inside you…” “Is that a bad thing?,” Sinclair asked. I shouted: “Of course it’s a bad thing! Are you really that stupid?!” “Define stupidity,” Sinclair said cold. I sighed again and said: “You’re tiring me, Sinclair.” “I wasn’t aware of that, sorry if I caused any inconvenience.” I mumbled: “That’s an understatement…” “What?,” Sinclair asked. “You made me kill my colleagues,” I replied with a tremble in my voice. Sinclair asked: “So?” I got angry. “What?! What do you mean with ‘so’?!” “You’ll have to give up your old life if you want to hang out with me,” Sinclair replied with a calm voice. “But I don’t want to hang out with you! You abducted me!,” was my overheated response. “That’s not what the Western Alliance thinks,” Sinclair smirked, “they think you stole me.” This made me think. How could I let the Alliance know what happened? I didn’t know…

Arrival at Banzure...

After 8 days of anomaly-hopping, Sinclair and I exited the treacherous area called the Briar Patch. At this point, Sinclair had taken complete control of my body...
“Stryker? Are you feeling okay?” Sinclair asked. I said nothing. I didn’t feel okay. I was very sick, because about 4 days ago, Sinclair decided to pump a couple of million nanoprobes into my body. And all I remembered was the way they were injected. It was injected in my left eye and that still made me sick to my stomach when I thought about it. I tried not to think about it, so I asked Sinclair: “Why are we going to Banzure Prime?” “We’re going to visit some old friends.” Sinclair replied. “Some old friends... riight...” “Why do I have the feeling you still don’t trust me?” Sinclair asked. “Like I tried to say before: You haven’t given me a reason to trust you.” “Why didn’t you say so?” “You shut me up.” I replied, a bit annoyed. I can be dangerous when I’m annoyed. Sinclair knew that, but he didn’t care for it. “I did, didn’t I?” Sinclair replied calmly. I pressed some buttons and said: “We’re now entering the Banzure system.” “Good.”

The Banzure system was a planetary system consisting of two stars and 5 planets circling around them. The inner planet, Banzure Prime, was the only habitable planet in the system and unlike the other planets, Banzure Prime had moons, 5 to be exact. I (or Sinclair) plotted a course to Banzure Prime, the Xenome Planet... 

Discovery at Banzure Prime.

2 minutes later, we landed in Banzure Primes only desert. I got out of Sinclair and I started to walk towards the vast jungle that covered most of the planet’s surface. I walked over to what looked like an ancient Mayan temple. I decided to enter it. When I entered the temple, I saw some humanoid skeletons scattered across the main hallway. I shrugged. I had seen many skeletons in my time as a paleontologist, but I never saw this many humanoid skeletons packed together. I appeared calm on the outside, but I felt very uncomfortable on the inside. I ended up in a small passage with a dead end. I didn’t know why, but at this point, it felt like I had been inside the temple before, even though this was my first time on Banzure. I wanted to tell Sinclair about what I found, when I realised I didn’t have my communicator and it was too far to travel back to the desert, so I decided to venture deeper into the Mayan temple, which was in a pretty bad state... I searched for a secret panel and I found it. I twisted the head of a small statue and a couple of lights went on. I looked at the lights for a second. The lights moved until they shined right into my eyes. It blinded me. Suddenly a door opened up in front of me. I entered the darkness ahead...

The Room...

I couldn’t see anything; I was as blind as a bat. Suddenly the doorway closed and I stood there in the dark. I grabbed for my nightvision goggles when I realised I forgot them... How could I have been so stupid? Oh well, it was too late now. I carefully stalked forward and stepped on some kind of button. The buton activated a bunch of torches, which created some light. I looked around and I found myself in some kind of chamber with a hieroglyphic kind of writing on the wall. It looked a lot like the ancient Egyptian type of writing. I walked over to the wall on my left, which had the most writings. When I looked closer, I saw that the insciptions were Egyptian. (I used to major in Egyptian.) So I read. But I found out that the inscriptions were mirrored and the word combinations made no sense to me. I touched one of the hieroglyphs and I noticed that the entire wall had started to change it’s shape. All the inscriptions mirrored themselves and they put themselves in their correct reading order. I started to read again.
The story that was written was about an alien invasion on the planet. It contained every foul and gorey detail on how every single man, woman and child was slaughtered. I felt sick, but I kept on reading. The story also had a lot of information on how the temple I was in was built. I memorized every detail. The story concluded with the following sentences: “I’m the last person left alive and I’ll be executed in 2 sunrises from now. When I’m gone, the creatures will colonize this planet and they’ll become one of the most powerful species in the solar system... May the one who reads this bring order to the system.”
When I was done reading, I started to carbondate the writing. ‘This is impossible,’ I thought when I watched the results... ‘12,000 years?’ Suddenly, I wanted to get out of there, but there were no exits. The door I entered the room with was disappeared. The adrenaline started to kick in. I couldn’t get out! I quickly looked around the room when I remembered that the inscriptions were movable. I calmed down a bit and started to place the inscriptions in a random order... The order turned out to be correct and a small secret passage appeared in the wall. I crawled into it and the wall closed behind me again. Even though there wasn’t a light source, the passage wasn’t dark. A bluey light seemed to come from all sides and it looked beautiful. I crawled to the end of the passage and another door opened. I got out of the passage and I stood up. I heard some soft snarling and I turned around, staring right in the eyes of some angry Velociraptors...

Banzure Primal Hunt.

The Raptors looked me in the eyes and without hesitation, they lunged at me. I didn’t hesitate either and I managed to dodge all the jumping Raptors and I got behind them. I ran away from them, as fast as I could. The Raptors quickly turned around and they chased me. I quickly found out that these weren’t normal Raptors, because when I looked behind me, some Raptors were running towards me on the walls. It was a strange sight and I would’ve laughed if the situation wasn’t serious. But it was dead serious. The Raptors were the hunters and I was the prey. And since Raptors are a lot faster than humans, they catched up quickly and they started to surround me. I felt their bad breath in my neck and I knew their teeth weren’t far behind, so I tried to run faster, because I saw an open space in front of me. I got an idea...

When we all reached the open space, I ran to the center and I quickly made myself as small as possible. I was right on time with this, because I felt that a Raptor had jumped towards me and now flew over my head. The Raptors quickly surrounded me and I knew I wouldn’t survive this rumble...
The Raptors snarled and growled at each other to determine who got to make the lethal attack. This bought me some time. I don’t know how I knew, but suddenly I pressed on a rock that was on the floor and a panel with a hole under it opened with a lot of noise. The Raptors heard this and they redirected their attention to me. They had enough. They sprinted toward me to kill me. I felt inside the hole, got a hold of something and it seemed that time was slowing down. At least, the Raptors slowed down. I pulled out the artifact and it changed into a large sword.
I started to attack the Raptors one by one, slaughtering them with the sword. The last Raptor jumped at me in slow-motion and I jumped at him (or her). When we met in the air, I cut off the Raptor’s head and when the Raptor died, time returned to normal. The lifeless body fell to the floor and triggered some sort of self-destruct mechanism. I felt a sharp sting in my right hand when the sword retracted itself inside my nanoprobed bloodstream...

I didn’t waste any time and I went to look for a way out of the temple. Unexpectedly, the ceiling collapsed and Sinclair came down to get me out.
“Get in, quickly!” Sinclair said. “Right!” I replied. I climbed into Sinclair’s cockpit and we hightailed out of there. I took one last glance behind me as I saw the temple explode. I thought we were safe, but we weren’t. A gigantic Brachiosaurus rapidly lifted it’s head because of the sound of the explosion... The noseplate of it’s head got stuck in the front part of Sinclair’s right engine, causing us to crash in a lake in the nearby mountains. The impact shut down Sinclair’s systems and I was knocked out when my head slammed against the cockpit roof...

---THE END... FOR NOW---

Date: May 5th, 2197.
Location: Alpha Scorpius.
System status: Scanning for compatible humanoid lifeforms...

Scan complete...

0 compatible humanoids found...

New objective: Destroy everything in your path.

On a planet, 6,000 lightyears from Earth, a tragedy unfolds. A new kind of interstellar fighter is on a rampage. It’s created with technology stolen from Black Mesa on Earth... 
It’s mission: To wreak havoc throughout the universe. It’s motive: Revenge...

There’s nowhere to run and there’s no place to hide...
It’s here...
It’s name is...

Koro-LEV

Coming soon...