Part 2
[These stories were co-authored with DawnCharger. The number of hours they have had to spend convincing me that a better way to write a line was actually my idea 
Some of the characters are ones we play in game, eg Alpharius and Faolán, The rest are persistent NPC’s that we use in many of our stories and RP’s. We hope you enjoy.]
=== Somewhere in the Prefecture of Laconia, Greece ===
A further three days pass and PO3 Smythe again finds himself outside Master Chief Petty Officer Hyperon’s door. He unconsciously adjusts his boxers before knocking. On entering the lion’s den, he salutes smartly and holds out a file for the Master Chief’s inspection.
The Chief takes his papers and nods for Smythe to continue as he browses through them. “We haven’t got any strong leads regarding the Orochi Squad that ran into the unpleasant fauna they encountered. But…” Smythe takes a slightly anxious breath. “We have found out a little more about the possible origins of that paw print.”
The chief’s violet eyes rise up like a frozen corpse to look him over, and Smythe swallows again. Having developed a theory that seems 100% logical in his mind is one thing; presenting it to the Master Chief in a way that makes it remain credible…
“Sir, first off I ask you to hold judgement until I can supply you with all the facts. I … I had a little trouble with them myself … but … but … I can’t find another theory that fits the facts as we know them.”
The Chief watches him for a moment, almost too long, before he nods. “Go ahead, son. I’ll hear you out.”
For some reason, Smythe feels like the Sword of Damocles was just cut away from above him. “I direct you to the image of the recovered paw print. There are two things about this print—the obvious one being the size of the specimen, but also that this was the only one.”
“That’s the only one?” the Chief asks. “Out of the entire area?”
“This was in the desert, admittedly, but even with all the blood that was spilt this was the only print.” Smythe pauses again in thought. “Further, if I’m right about how this creature attacked the squad, it’s exceptionally intelligent.”
“All that carnage and barely a paw print left behind, I can believe that,” the Chief comments. A frown crosses over his face, curling his scars into a curious pattern that Smythe tries not too hard to focus on. “This thing wasn’t out for a meal, it was out for blood.”
Smythe nods and continues. “As for the size of the print we were able to recover, we have searched every source we could think of. The data indicates that this creature is larger than any living wolf or dog we can identify.” He reaches out to the document in the Master Chief’s hands and hesitates. “Sir, If I may be so bold…?”
The Chief nods, and Smythe turns the page and points to his summary. “There is one creature that could possibly explain the origin of this print. I believe that the Orochi squad were attacked by something that is related to neither the wolf nor the modern dog. Something on the same evolutionary tree, but on its own branch.”
Taking a slightly anxious breath, “Sir, I … I believe the squad was attacked by something like a Dire Wolf - the Canis Dirus.”
“Dire wolves have been extinct since well before my time,” the Chief comments.
Smythe blinks in confusion. He didn’t know the Chief was a joker… but the Chief seems not to notice.
“That’s the major flaw with this hypothesis, sir. Dire wolves went extinct about 10,000 years ago, but no other canid is even close to being big enough to make that kind of track.”
“No natural canid, maybe,” the Chief comments. His eyes return to the report, flicking over them like a Predator drone’s camera lens.
“Sir?”
“We live in a world of monsters.” The Chief pauses. “Not to take away from your work, mind, this is good Smythe. Any new word on the survivors?”
Electing not to point out the fact to the Master Chief that he’d already commented on this, “Unfortunately, we haven’t found any strong leads regarding the Orochi Squad.”
+++
=== Orochi Vivification Unit, Tripoli, Libya +++
Medical Assistant 1st Class, Calvin Lepoidevin, is reassessing the progress of his charges. He has been on duty since 2000 hours the previous night. It was now 0630 and he was looking forward to a quiet cup of cocoa with a bit of television to wind down before going to bed.
He hated the night shift section of his roster, sitting in a room lined with eight Vivification tanks. The tanks housed the bodies of Orochi personnel injured in the line of duty, floating in a patented Vali solution.
Not that all were afforded this treatment—only those who had proven themselves to the extent that they were currently considered relatively indispensable. Presently there were only two tanks occupied.
The first tank was tenanted by a female trooper who had been admitted just 2 days prior. Looking at the clinical information sheet, he re-checks the patient information, more out of boredom than anything else:
Name: Viper
ORN: MRG-987602
DOB: 15 May 1994 (27 years)
Designation: Team Leader – Reclamation/Retrieval
He scans the impressive injuries she had suffered. Fractured skull with subdural haematoma; Multiple rib fractures with flail chest and tension pneumothorax; Fractured … no shattered collarbone and a fractured scapular.
“Wow … what was she fv#<ing hit by? And, she suffered all that and survived. He opens the admission entry and rereads the COMED Report thinking “Fv#<, this man knew his business.”
Looking back to the tanks … both of these would have been KIA if not for this ‘Hatch’ fella. If ever he was in a … gods forbid … combat situation … he wants this bloke to be his medic.
He leans his head to the side and tries to imagine what she would look like without the tubes going into almost every orifice she has, plus a few extra. Her head had been shaved and small electrodes glued all over it. Likewise, there were electrodes attached across her chest.
He checks the monitors. Her heart rate, oxygenation and brainwave patterns all seemed regular. Making appropriate notations in her records, his eyes move to the occupant of the second tank.
Name: Breaker
ORN: MRG-992376
DOB: 31 July 1993 (27 years)
Designation: Squad Support – Reclamation/Retrieval
He too floated in the Vali ‘special sauce’ with tubes entering his person as if he had been involved in some really bad hentai. In addition, his right arm had been replaced with some mechanical monstrosity. Calvin planned to do his best to never meet whatever eldritch horror had taken the original off.
Calvin’s ruminations are interrupted by the insistent flash of red coming from Vipers monitor and the fact that the woman was starting to demonstrate agitated leg and arm movements. Calvin is a diligent officer and slaps the alert button that will summon the duty medical personnel.
+++
Next: The Eyes Have It