The Falling Sky

Description

Millions of light years away, some time in the distant future...

Miles upon miles of cracked soil and drifting sand caked the dry, barren surface of the dead planet Derrarus. Its surface, having been laid to waste by the merciless rays of the two red giants whom lazily swung around one another in their dwindling waltz to extinction, bore no food, no water, and no life...

Instead, beneath the artificial gases which had been delivered to this barren wasteland from the heavens, amidst the occasional wreckage of the once-great space probes and colonies of both human and extraterrestrial origin, there lay nothing more than a thick layer of poisonous gas, so lethal that even the most hardy of beasts fell to its unforgiving grasp in a matter of seconds...

But above this planet, beyond the deadly mist and desolate artifacts, a glimmer of activity stirred. Thousands of feet away from the dismal orange sea of sand and shale, a technological masterpiece silently drifted across the oxygen-rich sky, its movement dictated solely by the polar magnetism of the planet below.

Its body a mass of glittering buildings and golden crops, the floating colony NX-72 was one of the most advanced human outposts of its time...housing well over a thousand civilians, it remained entirely self-sufficient in its functionality, the solar panel-covered buildings powering both its means of levitation and the cooling units that saved its inhabitants from the scorching rays which bombarded their homes every passing day.

Countless skywalks linked the towering silver buildings of NX-72 together, their glass and steel encasements providing not only a cooler means of moving about, but also ample shade for those whom still preferred to walk the city streets...it was on these that Lieutenant Kidd, commanding officer of the marine corps on NX-72, preferred to spend most of his time, gazing out at this wonderful city and the people he had sworn an oath to protect...

On most colonies such as this, marines weren't necessary, but here on Derrarus, they were essential. Here on Derrarus, a planet of isolation and desiccation, the humans were not here to terraform, but to mine. Here on Derrarus, the dead soil had forfeited its secrets to human technology, revealing to them an entire planet of minerals with untold importance and value...

But, like most great treasures, this one hid an even greater danger...

As the suns sank low in the sky and announced the finality of their rays at the end of yet another day, a convoy of miners arrived beneath NX-72, their tank-like vehicles coming to a halt and flashing brilliant red beacons to the city above as they radioed in a request to board...they were two days ahead of schedule, but not because they had found success. What they had found instead was disaster...

That night, two miners were rushed into the outpost's emergency room, their protective masks having been shattered by an unknown creature...

Elsewhere, two small children sat atop a massive white metal drum labeled "Ethanol," the golden corn fields around them gently rustling as a warm thermal drifted up and across the city. In these few minutes, just after the sun set but before the city's lights flared to life, the stars painted the sky...as they gazed up into the cosmos, one of the children pointed with glee as a shooting star streaked across the night sky, its angle suddenly changing halfway through its path before fading out of existence directly overhead. One of the children, a small girl, closed her eyes and made a wish, a small smile painted on her lips...

Silently drifting the depths of space, a yautja vessel floated over the planet Derrarus. Within its winding hallways and intricately carved rooms the menacing, muscular figures of the Balatu clan moved about, their intricate faces all bearing the same perpetual scowl...someone had invaded one of their many holy lands, kept sacred for its historical significance and merit. As they prepared themselves and plotted out their attack, they left their self-destruct devices behind: to damage their sacred grounds was heresy. They all knew their mission, it had been engraved in their teachings since birth: eliminate all intruders.

In one week's time, the colony of Derrarus had been put under lockdown. The creatures had swept through the hospital and it's three interconnecting buildings like a plague, their shimmering fangs and ebony hides leaping from the nightmares of man, woman, and child alike...the only way to stop them was to seal all exits to the complex, the steel airtight doors which barred the skywalks and doors to the streets serving as the only barrier between the humans and these horrible beasts. Marines had been positioned all around the perimeter, their eyes still nervously flitting about the outside of the buildings as screeches and screams unlike anything they had ever heard managed to resonate into the outside world...

All civilians trapped inside were assumed to be dead...

Lieutenant Kidd stood in silence on one of the skywalks outside of the sealed area, his eyes scanning the bulletproof glass windows of the hospital and its sister buildings for signs of activity...the creatures had managed to cut the lights in all four buildings now, making their activities at night, such as now, extremely difficult to monitor...however, just as he glanced over to see Second Lieutenant Hyro return from his own rounds, something new caught his eye...an ebony xenomorph, its body much leaner and more feline than the previous ones he had witnessed, padded out onto one of the skywalks. "Great...." Kidd muttered as the creature swerved its domed head and sightlessly stared at him, "They've gotten into the animal research facility..." The entire situation was a powder keg -- if they were using the humans to increase their number, and he suspected they were, then his marines were in danger...it was only a matter of time before these creatures decided to expand...

"And I thought it was bad when they got into the elementary school..."

Meanwhile, the yautja ship flared with activity as several drop pods launched from the immense vessel. Death was whispered in their prayers, and destruction shone on their blades...the Balatu clan had been insulted beyond repair, and the intruders would pay in blood...