First Drop: Matt's Story

Just some fic I thought up when working on Matt's backstory and stuff.

UER Von Braun
Aura System
Nine Years Ago...

The man stepped into the cold, dark room and sighed. He raised one arm and pushed a button on the metal wall behind him. The room was instantaneously lit up
as the lights powered up, one by one. The man was a marine of around thirty, with a pump-action 8-gauge slung over his shoulder. The room he had entered
was revealed to be an armory, packed to the brim with pulse rifles, shotguns, grenades, laser pointers and more. The marine walked towards one of the
lockers and opened it. He then unslung the shotgun and shoved it inside the locker, closing it shut afterwards. He then brushed his short hair back and
leaned against the wall. Four seconds later, another marine was stood at the door, arms crossed.
"Allen. You about finished yet?" he asked the other man sternly. The marine at the locker turned his head slightly and answered, "Yeah. Hold up a second"

Not long afterwards, the same two men were sitting at a long metal table, alongside thirteen other people, most of them marines. They were all having
lunch. Two of them were engaged in a conversation, apparently amusing to the other marines.
"What's this crap supposed to be?" the brown haired marine with the baseball cap asked, the marine next to him smiling for no apparent reason.
"It's just bread man" a female marine answered.
"Tastes like that stuff Matt kept bringing us back in Pripyat" the marine said, putting the half-chewed bread to one side, the marine to his left
laughing again.
"You never ate that **** anyway..." he reminded him, chewing on gum instead of eating anything on his tray.
"Matt, I watched the sarge stuff a crumb down his groggy ass throat. He was sick til' next semester. What the hell was it?"
"You'd gut me if I told you" Matt replied, eyes fixed on his food which he hadn't so much as touched since he'd put it down. The marines at the
table were all part of a large entity known as the UER (United Earth Rebellion), the marines serving as the battlehammer. Matt was just one of
them. He was a young person of around 24 years of age, and had already been through several combat tours in his life. The man next to him was Allen,
a corporal who had a knack for saying the wrong things in the wrong situations, though he was popular around his squadmates. Then there was Cole, who
served as the team's leader and an informant for the rebellion. Pelayo was the dropship pilot and a crackshot with a pistol, usually working with
another person who kept the radio functional, and Hicks, the cool-headed jokester of the team and a longtime comrade of Matt.
The rest were simply marines who had volunteered for the mission, though most of them had been on missions together on many previous occasions.
Matt shook his head and poked the corn bread with his fork. Looking up, he noticed schematics and maps of the planet they were in orbit with. The marines nicknamed it "The Fire Planet", a name only someone like Allen would come up with. The map zoomed in, showing maps for some kind of storage facility on the surface on the planet. Interested, Matt leaned over to get a better view of the whole thing.
"Whatcha' lookin' at Matt ol' buddy?" Hicks asked. Matt didn't answer.

Fifteen minutes later...

Matt was walking down the long corridor, a sign pointing out the way to the briefing area. Matt chuckled, thinking about the events of the previous lunch. Allen must have been so cheesed.
When he finally got to the large room, which was long after everyone else, he joined the rest of the marines, and stared straight forward, eager to know what was happening. Allen leaned over to him.
"You're late, dude. They finished briefing just ten seconds ago. I'll tell you on the way, kay?" he said. Matt looked at him, then nodded reluctantly.

Later on, each marine was heading for the armory, logging their ID's before passing through the steel door to the room. It went one by one. "Pelayo, D", "Allen, K", "Weasler, J", and soon, when Matt reached the door, "McNeill, M". Inside the armory, the rest of the marines were getting suited up and equipped. Matt just stepped forwards a few paces, confused as hell. Hicks walked over to him, having been the last one to get there.
"I know man. They rushing us into the field at a time like this" he said, sighing. "Wish they'd cut us some fuckin' slack"
"I thought you was the gung-ho one of us, Joe" Matt replied, putting on a helmet.
"So that means I like it, does it?" Hicks said, walking over to the bench straight ahead.

In the docking bay, several of the marines were prepping one of the shuttles, Allen and Andrews checking to make sure the it was in correct shape.
"Okay Myers, test it." Allen said through his comm.
"Roger" the marine in the cockpit replied. The shuttles engines then test-fired, blasting flames from the back of the shuttle, producing a lot of heat in the process. Allen gave the thumbs up.
"Okay, it's fine. We should be good to go in fifteen minutes" he said. Myers shrugged his shoulders and checked the cockpit controls to make sure there was really nothing wrong. Matt then entered the bay.
"Yo guys, finished fucking around yet?" he asked.
"Shut up, Matt" Allen and Andrews said together. Matt chuckled, then walked off, muttering "Idiots" as he went. Corporal Mance was checking the airlocks built into the floor for any damage, and watched Matt as he went.
"The shuttle okay?" he asked, sheepishly. Matt shrugged his shoulder, replying "Ask them".

In the armory, the last few pulse rifles were being given out to Lance Corporal Holt and Private Weasler, who were still a bit green on their loadout.
"This is fucked up" Weasler chuckled. Holt ignred him, an annoyed look on his face.

(Maybe I'm rushing this a bit, but I just want to get onto the KILLING )

Myers, after the shuttle had been prepped, called the whole squad to get themselves ready. He was flicking the controls, checking that everything worked, so they could take off without a hindrance. Not like last time, when they'd slammed into the bay doors before they had completely opened. Fortunately, only Allen was hurt.

The squad, some early, some late, all finally packed into the shuttle, eager to kick ass. Matt, as usual, was one of the last ones there, which hardly bothered the sarge anymore. Infact, he even liked to joke about it.
"So why we goin' down to this shithole planet anyway?" Hicks asked.
"Hopefully so we can haul your ass out and leave you there to die. We're gonna give those engineer idiots a hand, dumbass" the Sarge said, sarcastically. Hicks just chuckled, and gave Allen their usually high five. Why they did it, they wouldn't say. Matt had even asked once if they were together, to which Hicks had punched him hard.
"Alright, everybody on?" Myers asked.

Ten minutes after the entire squad had packed into the shuttle, it was already on it's way, thanks to Pelayo taking over the controls, as Myers had proven incapable. The man himself just stood in the cockpit, leant against a wall, smiling while he looked out the windscreen, heavy wind blowing past them as they went.
"I should stop trying..." Myers muttered.
"You stop stop thinking about it altogether..." Pelayo replied, smirking.
"I can fly for christ' sake..." Myers replied.
"Fly what? Toy airoplane?" the woman at the controls replied again. Myers didn't bother answering. He just exited the cockpit to check up on the others.
"We okay?" he asked.
"Fuckin' A man." Allen remarked. He was at the back of the shuttle, showing off all the gear they had been allowed to drag with them on the mission.
"Allen, knock it off man.."
"Hey, Manny, if you have something better to show us all...stay there" Allen chuckled.

Soon after the shuttle had entered the planet's atmosphere, with little difficulty, Pelayo logged in the coordinates of the outpost, and kept the shuttle steady as it descended.
"Okay guys, watch yourselves, gonna get a bit choppy out here" she told the rest via the comm.

"Fuck...me..." Allen stuttered, only just recovering from the massive bump inflicted upon them by the ferocious winds. Had Myers been flying, they would have crashed. Pelayo was currently pulling on the gears as hard as she could, not wanting to land upside down.
"Are the winds here always that bad?" Matt asked, coughing slightly.
"The Fire Planet's currently in it's fourth year of winter, and that's when the weather gets really shitty" Lieutenant Kaplan explained, checking the dropship systems were still functional.
"Fourth year of winter?" Hicks said in disbelief.
"Yeah. Winters on the Fire Planet last seven years, and don't come back for another twelve. We sure picked a helluva time to be doing this" Kaplan replied, chuckling.
"No snow?" Corporal Rhodes asked curiously.
"Nah, just the fucking wind, plus a lot of fog, so don't be going too far off the perimeter, otherwise you'll get lost. Unless you're Allen of course, then that's fine" Kaplan said.
"Fuck you, man" Allen said back. Kaplan just snickered and turned back to the shuttle's systems. They were stable again. Sergeant Cole, meanwhile was checking to make sure everyone was onboard. So far, no one seemed to be missing.
"Where the hell's Private Jennings?" Sarge suddenly asked. Corporal Mance, who was sitting one seat across looked around also, but didn't see him.
"Probably decided to stay behind with Dan. Guess he figured he wasn't cut out for this shit" he said, shrugging.
"He told me he was coming..." Cole answered, confused.

When the Fire Planet's surface was finally in sight, the shuttle had already gone wonky thanks to the wind and Myers' repeated complaints on Pelayo's flying. Cole had shut him up by telling him his flying was worse.
"Worse? Dude, where did she learn to fly?" Myers asked Cole. The Sarge just sighed and got on his feet, a few of the marines turning to stare at him.
"Okay, so we made it down without an incident. Phenomenal, but that's barely half the job done. We still need to get inside the outpost and give them dumbass boffins a hand" he explaimed, before Mance butted in.
"Why exactly does a science team around fifteen strong need a platoon of marines to help at a dig site?" he asked.
"Hell if I know. I asked, but Jackson just told me it was classified ****, so don't ask me" Cole replied, once again checking to make sure all the marines were accounted for.

Soon afterwards, the shuttle doors opened, and two marines stepped outside to scout the surrounding area. The winds had stopped, but the fog was heavy, much to their dismay. It didn't take them long to find the base, as it was a large structure, and it had lights on at the entrance, which cut through the fog easily. Matt returned to the shuttle and gave the all clear.
"Let's go **** **** up, eh bud?" Allen said to Hicks, who grinned and left the shuttle before him, annoying him a little. Mance and Matt were on point, heading towards the base, the Lieutenant behind them, then the rest of the squad.
"This weather is way beyond my training..." Holt commented, Briggs following behind him, chuckling.

Matt was the first one to the entrance, and stopped beside what looked like an intercom, but it was very weather-worn. Matt turned to face it, and immediately set about looking for the "on" button. Of course, there wasn't a button with "on" etched ionto it, so he'd have to pick one. And when he did, the intercom clicked and he immediately heard someone breathing inside.
"Corporal McNeill, Rebel Marines. You the receptionist?" he said into it. Whoever was one the other side didn't answer, and he tried again.
"Look...is this the right door? I mean, there was another one down the side..."
"Who ya talking to?" Allen interrupted, having just arrived with Holt and Briggs. Matt sighed and replied "Some guy on the other side of the damn door, won't answer, won't open this thing up"
"Hey buddy, you deaf in there? He said, open this--"
"What...marines? Oh...finally...I'll...um...open it, shall I?" the person inside answered before Allen could finish. It was a woman. Allen chuckled excitedly, and watched as the door rattled, then slowly opened itself, revealing the base inside. Holt quickly stepped inside, and looked around him. Walls, a door, a long corridor, and what looked like a reception area. He peered over the counter to find their so-called "welcoming party" pressed against the wall, a pistol in her hand.
"Woah, woah. Since when did receptionists carry guns?" Holt asked, Allen stepping beside him, smiling.

"So...this is it?" Skade asked, surprised, as he'd been expecting some fancy place with luxury accomadations. Instead, the whole place looked like a mining facility should.
"Don't fret, Skady. It's much nicer in the science labs" Holt remarked, checking out the reception area. So far, nothing looked or was out of the ordinary, apart from the half-spooked receptionist at the desk. Kaplan turned to face her.
"You alright there? You look like shit" he asked her. She made a face and replied "No...not really"
"So, Top, can we go see the rides yet?" Allen joked. Cole scoffed and peered down the corridor. There was one door, plus windows on both sides. The shutters were activated, so they couldn't see what was behind them.
"Alright...we need to familiarize ourselves with this place...so...Allen, Holt, think you can go check the comms room?" he asked, sternly.
"Yeah, sure, whatever boss man" Allen replied, irritated. Holt shook his head and immediately headed down the corridor, Allen reluctantly following him. The door shut behind them.
"Briggs, Mance, Hicks, science lab. Make sure they got everything they need. Marty and Rhodes, storage. Matt and the rest will check the mine, make sure no one's killed themselves down there yet" Cole said, pointing to each marine as he said their names. Marty and Rhodes just nodded and went off. Matt and his part of the team waited for a bit while the others left, then headed down. The Lieutenant was still trying to get something out of the woman at the door, mostly to no avail.

"Y'know, just this once, I wish Jennings had tagged along" Hicks commented. Mance stared at him in disbelief.
"What? Why?" he asked.
"Cos' then we wouldn't be searching the fucking science labs, would we? I fucking hate science labs" Hicks explained.
"You hate everything..." Briggs remarked.

In the comms access corridor, Holt was several yards ahead of Allen, who was reluctant about going any further.
"What's the matter, Kid?" Holt asked Allen.
"Don't you find this wierd?" Allen replied. Holt made a face.
"Find what wierd?" he answered, surprised that someone like Allen would say such a thing.
"It's too quiet...apart from that crazy receptionist bitch we haven't seen anyone" he replied, hurrying over to Holt's position.
"I dunno. I don't work these kinda places"

Inside the Comm Room, things got even stranger. Allen immediately strode over to the main console to check that it was functional, and to his heightening relief, it was.
"Least I got one thing to be happy about..."
"Allen..." Holt whispered.
"What?"
"Look" Holt answered, seemingly peeking into a small alcove behind the console. When Allen came over, the quietness of the situation faded away completely.
"Well piss" Allen chuckled, staring at the woman Holt had seen in the alcove. She was apparently anxious about something, typing away at her pda, gritting her teeth.
"Hey, um...whatcha doin'?" Allen asked sheepishly.
"Improvising..." the girl answered, not looking away from the pda or changing her facial expression.

Allen and Holt were just about to turn back and inform the Sarge what they had found, when what looked like two security officers stepped into the room, weapons held high.
"Fuck, ****, ****..." Allen muttered under his breath.
"Dude, shut up" Holt told him, before taking a few steps towards the two men, his weapon also held high.
"Who are you supposed to be, marines?" one of the officers asked. Holt nodded, but said nothing.

At the mine entrance, just inside the storage area, Matt and Skade were outside the large bulkhead door, ready to enter.
"It ain't locked, is it?" Skade asked with hope.
"You wish. Ready?" Matt replied, smiling. Skade nodded reluctantly, and the two, with all the strength in their arms, prised the door open. Skade immediately stopped to catch his breath.
"Why do we have to prise the damn thing open?" Myers wondered out loud.
"Cos' A, we don't got access, and B, Matt wants to show off" Skade told him, Matt ignoring him and entering the steep, damp cavern.
"Dayum, dark as hell in there...got a light?" someone asked. Matt nodded and switched on his light, illimunating the entire area around them. Almost as quickly as he had, mining tools and broken lamps could be seen at the sides. Apparently the digging team had been in a hurry to get the job done.

The two security officers that had appeared at the door had their weapons lowered, and the marines were just as confused as ever. Holt took a few steps forward and one of the guards raised his weapon slightly.
"Okay, no one at command told me this place was full of crazy people" Allen commented on the guards.
"Allen, shush...and would you guys mind telling me why you have a gun pointed at me? I thought you needed our help" Holt said.
"We did...but until a few days ago, just with the mines" a guard said. Allen made a face, but no one noticed.
"Until a few days ago? What?" Holt asked in an anxious tone.

In the lab, Mance was the first one there, flashlight on as the lights were off. He was currently looking over the clipboards and notes left scattered across the desks. There was also a lot of lab equipment that even Mance was impressed by.
"Sweet" he muttered under his voice, when his comm beeped loudly.
"What?"
"Hey, you wanna take a look at this? We found another one in the lab. A girl. Apparently this place isn't as deserted as it would make out to be" Briggs said through the comm. Mance smiled and replied "Yeah okay. This was getting boring anyways"

In the mine, Matt and Myers were on point, passing even more mining equipment. The tunnels seemed to go on forever, until at last, they found themselves facing a wall. A wall made of tons of fallen rocks.
"Oh great. We come all this way and now we have to go back?" Myers asked the others. Matt shook his head and shone his light over whatever was left from the rockfall. Just a few jackhammers, some hammers and...
"Jesus" Matt exclaimed. Myers immediately turned to face him.
"Excuse me?" he replied. Myers shone his light down on the rocks, and revealed what looked like an arm, though covered in whatever the person had been wearing.
"And that is why I don't work mines" Myers remarked. Not paying any attention to the others, Matt already had something in his hand. A laser pick of some kind. It had been in the clenched hand of the unfortunate miner they had found.
"...yeah...what's so important about it, Matt?"

"Hey Allen, tell Holt we found something down here..." Matt told Allen via comms.
"Nevermind that, we got two assholes up here pointing guns our way. Say they're in some deep **** or somethin'" Allen replied jokingly.
"What?" Matt asked.

Briggs meanwhile had reached some kind of surgery area, and was struggling to find the light switch, due to the fact the room had no windows.
"Goddammit"
"Having trouble in here sweetie?" Hicks asked as he too entered the room to find it dark.
"...yes...can you find the damn light?" Briggs replied in annoyance. Hicks just chuckled and activated his light, illuminating the small portion of room ahead of him. Through the low light, he could see several surgical desks, a table that had been kicked over, and surgical tools and jars that had been scattered everywhere.
"These guys sure needed help alright..." Hicks murmured quietly, quickening his pace until he reached the other end of the room. He then peered up, his light shining over the ceiling.
"Lights are busted...switch won't do nothin' here" he reported, unable to find said switch. Mance, who had just arrived, just scoffed and left.

Back in the cavern, Myers and Matt were scavenging any remaining piece of mining gear they could find for return to the Von Braun, while the others had gone to report their findings. Matt still had his eye on the ton of rocks blocking further access, and the hand...he tried not to think about it.
"You'd think with all this **** lying around they'd have put up a proper set-up in here" Myers said, grinning. Something clanged loudly behind him, and the two turned around in a flash, weapons raised.
"What the f..." someone said in the darkness.
"Come out of there..." Myers yelled, seconds before a man with black hair and wearing mining gear walked up to them, also wielding a gun. He looked shaken.
"Jesus...more of you. What's your name?" Myers asked him.
"Dude..." Matt begun, but Myers ignored him.
"...J.D....you the marines? **** me..."

J.D. recognized Matt and Myers as marines, and lowered his weapon, hoping he would be safe. Safe from what, the marines didn't know.
"What's with this place? Everyone we find is either a crazed gunman or a retard." Matt remarked, Myers making a face.
"Dude...dude...we ain't crazy. We just doin' what we must...maybe you should have done the same and stayed on your damn ship" J.D. said in a slightly angered tone.
"Well the sarge isn't one to question orders, unlike most of us..." Myers told him.
"And ever since we got that dickhead lieutenant on our side, things have been going just peachy..." Matt reminded Myers with a frown.

Ten minutes later found Matt, Myers and J.D. back in the reception area, where the lieutenant and the calmed down woman were. The Sarge and Allen were outside, scouting the area, and most of the rest of the team was in the communications center, trying to talk some sense into the outpost personnel.
"Dudes, I though this place was supposed to be packed" Hicks started by saying.
"It was..." a guard said, "until we started getting picked off one by one down here...first in the mines, and then in the labs. There's barely half of us even left"
"What?" Hicks retorted, but everyone else just nodded, the marines sitting around them with awestruck looks on their faces.
"Someone is killing your guys? Is that why we're here?" Holt asked the colonists.
"Yes and no. You were called to the planet before we started losing people. When we tried to contact the rebels to get the ship to move faster, they said twenty-five people in a building weren't worth all the hassle. Assholes" a woman named Kayleigh Scott explained, sighing.
"Yeah, command always have their heads up their arses...we'd get better results if we radioed the zoo" Hicks replied, also sighing.
"You marines from Earth?" the young man named Azreal asked.
"Nah, we were in the middle of our yearly patrol of the outer systems...and to think I was this close to retiring when this happened..." Rhodes commented, irritated about everything so far. Not a split second after he'd finished complaining did the radio beep loudly. Rhodes, moaning, grabbed it and clicked it on.
"Manny, you'd better have a good reason to interrupt my quiet time" he said into the comm.
"...uh, yeah. Just been checking the inner corridors like the sarge asked. Found a lot of scattered equipment, plus evidence of a gunfight in the biopsy lab" Mance's crackled voice replied through the radio.
"I remember that..." Azreal said under his voice. Rhodes just sighed.
"Yeah, keep on it Manny. This **** it getting wierder by the second"
"Roger"

(FINALLY someone dies )

After nearly half an hour of searching the biopsy lab top to bottom, Manny had not found anything pointing to what had happened barely hours before they'd arrived. He'd found traces of shrapnel in the walls, plus there were a few broken weapons scattered about, but apart from that, nothing.
Checking that he'd remembered to load his weapon, Manny stepped back into the corridor, giving up on his search and heading back to the others. It was strange. Half the colony's crew seemed to be missing. The half that was left had gone a bit...crazy in his opinion.
Scratching his head, Manny had nearly reached the end of the corridor when suddenly, the floor gave way under him, trapping him halfway through the cracked flooring.
"Dammit! ****!" he exclaimed in frustration, pulling himself as hard as he could to free himself, but to no avail. He was stuck.
"Shitty flooring..." Manny muttered, hearing faint noises nearby. They sounded human.
"What the f...hey! Lend a guy a hand would ya?" he yelled in a random direction, not knowing where the sound was coming from. He sighed, irritated. He banged the floor. And then he yelled out in pain. Underneath him, the sound of tearing flesh could be heard. Manny, gritting his teeth, grabbed his weapon and tried to aim it down through the floor. Another gut-wrenching whap was heard, and he jolted in pain, unable to scream. He was just able to reach for the flooring in front of him, moaning under his breath. And then he fell still, his eyes frozen in place, blood seeping out his mouth.

Meanwhile, most of the rest of the team were still discussing things with the colonists, rather annoyed that they couldn't get much out of them.
"Manny said he found traces of gunfire in the biopsy lab. Care to elaborate on that?" the lieutenant asked Azrael, who shrugged. Kaplan just stared at him for a while, and eventually Azrael spilled the beans.
"We found him in the lab. He was just standing there, those eyes of his completely fixed on us...McCabe reacted first...reached for his gun and ran at him...sumbitch got cut down pretty quick...rest of us just ran...me, Kay and Nikki. Reached the comms station and never left. Until you guys barged in" he explained to them, his tone changing every ten words or so.
"Who was it?" Hicks asked him in a stern tone. Azrael just looked him in the eyes in annoyance and replied "I don't know..."

"Matt found a guy in the mines. He was...crushed..." Myers told the colonists. A few of them just shrugged, but one of the guards spoke up.
"Could be Barrow, or Pendleton. Either way, they're both dead, so it doesn't really matter" he explained in a low voice.
"Who in their right mind would come all the way out here just to kill you guys?" Skade asked curiously. Azrael gave him a dirty look, but answered.
"Dunno. There ain't been a lot of studies of this planet, but we know the Aura System is full of freaky ****, including dangerous predators. Nothin' like the Hunters back on Earth..."
"How long you guys been up here?" Matt asked.
"About six months...feels like a lifetime..." Kayleigh said in a suspicious tone.

Rhodes meanwhile had gotten deathly bored of the colonists and had wandered off for some time alone. Something told him the people here weren't all that truthful with what they had said, but their facial expressions had told him otherwise. Still, he found it hard to make sense of any of it.
Lieutenant Kaplan was at the reception area, standing around with the Sarge, who was typing a message into his comm. He would have just opened up a comm link with command, but the weather interfered with their signal. The frightened receptionist had told them her name, Nikki, and was standing in a corner, looking at reports on something, though no one had asked about it.
"Hey Lieutent?" Cole adressed Kaplan in a low voice. The lieutenant eyed him but only raised an eyebrow.
"You've been here before, haven't you?" Cole asked him.
"Yeah?"
"Was she here that time?" Cole replied, pointing to Nikki. Kaplan stared at her, then back at Cole, then nodded.
"Was she this wierded out back then?"
"No" Kaplan simply said. It was apparent he wasn't much of a talker. Cole just shook his head and peered out the nearby window. The weather certainly wasn't getting any better.

"Look, if you're gonna ask me the same fucking thing all damn day, I suggest you shut the **** up" J.D. said in annoyance to Skade and Allen, who just stared at him blankly. Matt just watched them, smiling.
"Hey Matt, if you find this **** satisfying, come join the club" Allen said over the room to him. Matt just scoffed and kept on watching.

In the cargo hangar, the bay doors at the far side of the room opened up to reveal Briggs and Andrews. Stepping into the hangar revealed loads of crates, some machinery and two shuttles that obviously hadn't been used in months.
"They didn't need the shuttles?" Briggs asked anxiously.
"If our trained pilot can't navigate through a winter storm, how do you expect one of these dumbass colonists too?" Andrews replied jokingly.
"I didn't know Pelayo was trained" Briggs joked back, before stepping further into the cargo area, moving towards the shuttles. It was very dark, and the shuttles could only be recognized by the few flashing lights in the cockpit. Andrews stared in all direction. What were the colonists keeping in all these crates? Huge rocks, maybe? No. Those would be kept in a lab or something.
"Just don't ask me about the light" Briggs reminded him.

Outside, manning the perimeter was Rhodes, who was pacing the ledges built on the exterior of the main structure. Looking into the storm, he noticed many smaller structrues and a few vehicles parked in awkward places, plus a large sign with it's back to him. He then reeled back, enough to have sent him back to the wall. The storm was pounding at him, making peering over the railings nearly lethal.
"Damned weather..." Rhodes muttered before suddenly staring straight to the right, down below where he was. Nibbling on something inside one of the vehicles was a small, bipedal creature that looked oddly similar to a lizard, though it was too big. Rhodes fixed his eyes on the creature and, deciding to brave the storm, peered out to get a better look at it. But before he could identify it, the creature screeched loudly and rushed off, carrying it's find in toe.
"And damned animals..." the annoyed marine mumbled, putting his drawn pistol back in it's holster. No sooner had he done so had something else appeared near the vehicle. A shadowy figure. Human.
"Jesus ****...hey!" Rhodes yelled down at the person. The figure didn't answer, instead just staring at him from afar, not moving a muscle.
"Dammit" Rhodes said angrily, kneeling down to grab his rifle. But when he stood up again, the figure had gone. He only saw the vehicle and the footprints of the small lizard-thing.
"I hate this planet..."

"Hey guys! Check this out!" Cpl. Marty yelled down to the others while scouring the comms station. Only Allen and Hicks rushed up, apparently done bugging J.D.
"What?" Allen asked hastily. Marty just pointed. In his search of the room, he'd accidentally bumped a mechanism and it had opened the shutters.
"Oh. Nice" Allen remarked, Hicks making a face. The comms room overlooked a small canyon that was occupied by a few mining vehicles and one or two lizard-things.
"There a building over there?" Hicks asked, pointing out the window. Marty peered and saw it. There was another section of building built into the other side of the canyon. It was hard to make much of it though, as the blizzard was showing no signs of dispersing.
"That's the main lab over there. It's where we've been...studying the stuff we've found on this planet...but...we've kinda expanded into doing weapons testing too" A guard said, stepping up into the room.
"You test weapons up here?" Marty asked.
"Well...this ain't the safest side of the planet, mate. In six months we've had four attacks from...whatever they are. And now we've got a psycho running through the base" the guard explained.
"How come we haven't seen this...psycho killer?" Hicks asked him, raising an eyebrow.
"We last saw him nine hours ago. Right after he bumped off the colonel" he told him, sighing.
"The colonel?"
"Colonel Harris. The guy the rebels sent us a few weeks back. Came with an extra soldier and a rack of bullets. Didn't help him. Didn't help us either" the guard said, shaking his head in exhaustion.
"Who is this psycho killer, mister...?" Marty asked him.
"My name's Riggens. And we don't know who he is. But judging by his surprising amount of experience, I'd say he was a marine once. Keeps taking us by surprise" the guard replied. Hicks shook his head in disbelief and stared back out the window. The building on the other side of the canyon was still in view.
"Mind if we poke around your "secret lab" a few minutes, officer? We won't touch anything" he asked, smirking slightly.
"Well...fine, fine. You are the cavalry anyways. But watch yourselves. That lab is where we last saw that sunovabitch. He could still be around" Riggens told them quietly.
"Back exit's down the stairs and to the left. You can't miss it" He added.