A New Saga Novel

Chapter 1

A Fallen Hero




A Dropship begins its descent towards the landing pad, "Tower 3 this is Raven 8, requesting permission to land." says the pilot over the com. "Tower 3 to Raven 8, you are cleared for landing. We are ready to receive the package". The Dropship meets the earth as the thrusters turn dust into knifes in the air, "Package Tango is exiting the cargo bay. He's all yours now" says the pilot.

A armed escort of men jog in file towards the cargo bay, two of the men prepare their shaft harnesses and stand on opposite sides of the off ramp. A figure slowly enters the light of day, he sluggishly puts his cuffed hands up to cover his masked face from the suns brilliance. As his visor quickly adjusts, he brings his hands down and begins his exit down the ramp, his cloak catches a updraft from the powerful Dropship thrusters and begins to frantically bustle like an animal trapped in a cage. His boots are heavy and with each step a loud clank would be emitted, his helmet reflecting the light into the faces of the armed troop below. He tugs at the big metal collar around his neck which was also holding his first pair of hands.

Vaughan takes the last step off the ramp, instantly the two men with the shaft harnesses latch the shafts to the collar. The figure kept his head down, he was surely a beaten man. He did not fight his captors nor did he resent them, for it was his own doing that brought this wrought upon him. He was escorted to an elevator where a man awaited them, even though  the man was human Vaughan could tell this was a man of high position. He knew his fate but did not bother to try and prevent it, for he had already failed his life's purpose. 

The escort gathers on the elevator and begins is descent, the important human looked at Vaughan and said "we were beginning to think we would never catch you. But you slipped up and now you will pay."  Vaughan chuckles and starts to speak in a very rough human dialect "I have pay enough to last lifetimes". The human General looks at the Alien and says "My name is General Douglas Bern, I going to be your babysitter for the next 2 unpleasant weeks of your life. As the elevator draws ever nearer to their destination Vaughan cocks back his head and begins to think of the times that brought his life meaning and purpose.


Vaughan

Spoiler:

Chapter 2

Memoir of the Lost



Vaughan peers inside the rusted car, nothing useful as usual. He closes the door and starts walking again, his cape flattering in the wind as he trudges onward through the dense snow. The snow is coming down in sheets and the ground level is up to his knees making moving difficult and time consuming. He shoulders his rifle and takes a deep breath, he exhales and gives thanks for the mask and oxygen filter. 

He has been traveling for days and what little rations he has is dwindling, he can feel his stomach shake at the absence of food. He sees another car and hurries up to it and opens the door and scavenges for anything to eat but again finds nothing, his faith drops with every sunrise. "I have got to find something to eat, this is ridiculous".

He slams the door and continues his path, as hes walking down the trail through the trees he spots something move just inside the foliage of the forest. He pulls up his rifle and places his second pair of hands on his machete hilt, he doesn't move and keeps aiming through the scope on his rifle not wanting to be the one the blink in this game of chicken.

Something bursts out of the cover of the forest and rushes towards him, Vaughan fires twice at the approaching creature hitting it in the shoulder and the chest. With a piercing howl the creature drops into the deep snow and disappears from view, Vaughan creeps up to spot where the creature disappeared and walked around to where the contents of the hole in the snow could be seen. 

The creature lay in the hole shuddering as the surrounding snow turned red, Vaughan studies the creature, he has seen many of these things recently. It has two legs and no fur except for what was on its head, it has wrapped around its body a mixture of materials that appeard to be clothes but tattered due to harsh environment, Vaughan has seen these creatures  in his travels. The creature looks up at Vaughan like it just noticed him.

It put up both hands in a pleading gesture of some sort, Vaughan saw that it also had thumbs. It began to make a mixture of noises that Vaughan could not understand, so Vaughan stood there with his gun trained on the downed creature. Ten tense and slow minutes pass till the creature finally utters its last noises and shudders once more before becoming still. Vaughan lowered his weapon and couldn't help but feel that he should have put the creature out of its misery instead of watch it suffer.

Vaughan sighs heavily and crouches down and starts to search the corpse for anything useful, nothing, once again he gains nothing for his own survival. He starts to wonder if the stars are against him, cursing him and his presence on the surface of the planet. 

Vaughan stands up and looks around, it appeared that this creature was alone, "what a sad and cruel fate" he mutters under his breath. He gives the corpse one last glance and trudges forward, he knew not why he headed in this direction but it felt like something was leading him to a destination unannounced to him. 

Days pass as Vaughan continues forward on this path lain before him, his supplies are exhausted and he cant imagine traveling tomorrow

As he stops for the night he plops heavily on the ground and tosses his rifle off the side with out care of its condition, he growls angrily over his fate and his is situation. He strongly throws things around inside his pack for his fire making tools, after finding them he tosses the pack towards the rifle and starts striking the rocks furiously  to make the fire.

The sticks starts to glow a bit and embers become visible, Vaughan gently blows on the embers as fire begins to grow and swell with the excess oxygen. The fire licks hungrily as Vaughan puts neat chopped wood onto the fire. Satisfied that the fire was good enough, he grabs a small can of Spam and tosses it into the fire. He sits there looking at the fire for awhile until he hears the screaming of the Spam cooking inside the can. 

He fishes it out with a stick and moves it over the the ground and buries it in the dirt, after that he grabs his pack and places it behind him and leans back and tries to grab some sleep. As he fades into the black of his unconscious mind he thinks of his past, he was never able to remember much but as for what he remembers this world was not always so desolate.

He finally gives in to sleep and his mask starts to power down only the air filter stayed on the conserve energy, he dreams of nothing as is his norm. 

He wakes to a noise but doesn't make a move, he thinks about where it could be and tries to move his eyes to see the creature. What he sees leaves him speechless.