The Colony Part 1: Preparations

Teranus sighed as he made his way down the now familiar hallways of the DSC headquarters. The tall, dull grey walls had served as a better home to him then anywhere he could remember. He'd been successful in his work here, built up a life here. He had quite a renown for being scarily effective with a sniper rifle, and to this day hadn't failed to make a kill of importance. Of course, the flip side to his renown was his unsociable attitude to almost everyone he worked with. Despite his desire to keep his work strictly professional and avoid relationships, he had made good friends with a few fellow members, one of which he was on his way to visit right now.

Without knocking, he pushed open the door to the room of a well known DSC member, sometimes referred to as 'the demon of the DSC', but known to Teranus as Lightning. The red dragon looked up from his desk, a flash of green appearing in his usually blue eyes showing his alertness to the situation. A faint crackling could also be heard running down his back, along the blue spikes that held the electricity the drake used so effectively in combat. After realising who it was though, Lightning shook his head, the crackling fading once more into silence.

"You know, if I hadn't been expecting you, I would've kicked your ass out of here." He said in a stern tone. One thing they both shared was their privacy, and it was well known that you didn't bother Lightning unless you had a matter of great importance concerning him. Luckily for Teranus, he did this time.

"Well you were. Now, you said you had a problem?" He replied in a similar tone. Another thing they shared was a desire to be the one who asserted authority.

"Yes... Come with me." He said, standing up and making his back out the door. Teranus followed swiftly behind him, wondering what on earth he could possibly have in store for him. As it would turn out, it wouldn't be on earth at all...

"Where're we headed?" Teranus asked as they exited the main building, and had his question answered as they made their way towards one of the numerous bunkers around the base. Many were used as standard aircraft shelters and supply warehouses, but a few were reserved for specific members. The one they were headed to contained Lightning's equipment he stored for the many situations he usually faced.

"Well... I'm not going anywhere, but you will be... Hopefully." He replied as he entered through the small side door of the building next to the main hangar doors. Confused at the riddle of an answer, Teranus entered behind him and was greeted with a rather messy sight.

Mechanical and electrical equipment lay strewn around the hangar, some gathered in piles to make moving around a little easier. Small cranes held what appeared to be some form of metal suit to one side, where the had clearly been recent work. Engines and other complex machinery Teranus had no clue about lay littered around it, parts stripped to modify it for some purpose. A row of glass cages were affixed to the opposite hangar wall, some containing what appeared to be mechanical creatures. One or two moved around, but the rest appeared deactivated.

These features of the hangar were of little notice to Teranus, as what stuck out to him was the large glass cube in the centre of the room. It stood at thirty or more feet high, and stretched across just as far. Some device was positioned inside, shaped like an arch with complex machinery on either side of it. Lightning walked up to it and tapped a claw on the surface, before turning to Teranus.

"Seven inches of bullet proof glass. Not even a cannon could brake through." He said with a smile, seemingly proud of the creation. Teranus sighed at the drake

"That's great... What am I doing here?" He asked, beginning to get impatient with the whole mysterious job Lightning was portraying.

"Well... About that..." He said, and gestured for Teranus to follow him once, this time to a table where several monitors were set up. Lightning tapped on the keyboard and opened up several files. One monitor displayed what appeared to be updates on something, another showed topographical images of what appeared to be a large base set into a forest. The rest contained code or nothing at all.

"Recently the DSC has been working on a top secret project. Only Zorath and a few others know about it. The aim is to create a small colony of dragons on another habitable planet in our universe to try and stop the overpopulating of ours. That equipment over there..." He said, gesturing at the glass cube, "...enables us to travel through space." Teranus must've had a shocked look on his face, which Lightning more or less ignored. "Yes, space travel. It's been a big effort, but we finally have a small base set up on a largely unexplored planet that we hope to grow soon." This surprised Teranus, as he hadn't really considered the possibility of other worlds. He preferred to believe in what he could see, and he never stargazed very much.

"Congrats, you've made a back-up plan for the Earth. I'm still failing to see where I fit into this." Teranus said, wondering whether or not he should've just said he was busy and gone to the range. So far, he was liking the idea of it.

"Well... These are reports on the situation in the colony." Lightning stated as if it would make Teranus understand the situation, changing his stance to look at a monitor. "They're meant to be delivered once a week our time so that I know how progress goes on the further colonisation of the planet. The last report mentioned that some form of comet or similar object entered the atmosphere and crashed down nearby the colony. They planned to run some tests on it for scientific purposes, see if it contained anything useful."

"And..?" Teranus questioned, starting to see where this might be headed.

"That report was a month ago. Since then I've sent two dragons in to find out what happened, but I haven't heard from them since. The first went before I received these images from one of our drones. They run on separate systems and automatically return to the portal each week, normally accompanied by a dragon, but..." Lightning paused, turning to the monitor with the images on it. He flicked through, most of them dated months ago. As they neared the current date, the images changed majorly. Instead of rich green forests, there was now shades of black and purple appearing swiftly, as if the land had been drenched in oil, or was diseased.

"The second entered afterwards, this one in a biohazard suit and with a gun. It just so happened that the images were still being taken by our drones, and this is what the last one caught." Lightning opened the final image, where the section of forest no longer held any green. The base appeared to have been covered by some strange growth of the same colour as the trees. What stuck out though was a small figure in cream-coloured equipment. Lightning zoomed in on the figure as far as he could, but the image was heavily blurred. What caught Teranus' eye though was that the figure wasn't moving of their own will. They were being dragged, by something almost indistinguishable from the forest's floor. But it looked humanoid.

"Why haven't you been yourself?" Teranus asked Lightning, who seemed to have prepared for this question already.

"Well, once someone enters the portal, they can't open it back up from the other side. A meeting between us few who know about it decided that they couldn't go through due to the importance of their presence in this world, and I can't go through as I'm leading the portal's accessibility. Due to how under the radar this operation is, I've been unable to confide in anyone else with permission... Except for you. You're the only one I can afford to ask this of, without bringing down a shitstorm on the operation should someone speak and cause an internal division about whether or not this is a good use of our resources."

"I see, so you're sending in a 'grunt'..." Was all Teranus said.

"If it makes you feel any better, I suggested you for your skills." Lightning said with a chuckle. Teranus sighed, before going into thought for a short while.

"So what, you want me to go in there, to a different part of the universe no less, find out what happened to this operation of yours, and keep this all completely quiet from anyone else?"

"Like I said. You're the only one who'd even consider it and be able to avoid blabbing." Lightning replied, looking at him.

"This is... This isn't something to be taken lightly. What do we know about this... 'Thing' that's happening to the colony? What am I up against?"

"Well, we know very little to be honest... It's spreading like some form of infection through the plant life, moving through the forest at an alarming rate. It's likely to reach the outer edges in days if it hasn't already. However it doesn't seem to be able to 'infect' machinery as such, which is why I've made that." He said, pointing to the metal suit hanging from the cranes.

"I was meaning to ask about that..." Said Teranus, turning to look at it once more.

"I hope you like it... It's yours." Said Lightning as he walked over, to which Teranus turned back to him, surprise etched onto his dark face.

"What?! Why?"

"Well, to provide protection from whatever is happening out there." Lightning answered, waving an arm towards the portal and monitors.

"You seem very sure that I'm going to accept this task..." Teranus said, a hint of uncertainty to his tone of voice.

"Hey, I know you go out of your mind here when you're not working, I'm the same. I see you waste away box after box of ammunition down at the range because you have nothing better to do. I turn my focus to tech, I mean heck, look at this place." He gestured around the hangar. It was indeed full of machinery and projects that had been started, in a sort of chaotic order.

"You make a good point... Screw it, what have I got to lose, other than my life?" Teranus asked rhetorically, to which Lightning laughed.

"That's the spirit. Now, I had to guess your exact measurements, but it should fit pretty well." He said as he took apart the front of the suit for Teranus to step inside.

"Wait, you want me in there now?" Teranus asked, confused.

"Time is of the essence here. The longer we take to get you there, the worse the situation gets."

Teranus grumbled as he waited for the suit to be opened up fully, taking off his trench coat, leather armour and weapons while Lightning took it apart. It felt wrong to not be wearing it, but somehow he knew he wouldn't be able to fit in with it on.

"Now I also took some hints from your armour when I was designing this. You'll find that that you have pockets for your magazines and the like in the same spots where you'd normally find them on your leather armour, for convenience." Lightning explained after the suit was fully opened. He then handed Teranus some form of lightweight suit, slightly stretchy and easily squished. "This is a gel suit. Helps you get more comfortable when you're in the armour."

Teranus put it on swiftly, and found it more restricting then he would've expected. Once it was on, he stepped into the suit gingerly, not being one who liked confined spaces. Not out of fear as such, but more out of the lack of manoeuvrability. He slid his tail into the metal casing and collapsed his wings onto his back as tightly as he could without getting uncomfortable, as the suit didn't have slots for them, but only an extra wide back so that he'd fit.

"Right..." Teranus said once he was in, looking at the Lightning as he was strapped in. The suit, still hanging from the cranes, meant he had to stand with his arms and legs spread. It was also raised a few inches off of the ground, which made him a little wobbly. Lightning chuckled, knowing it was the dragon's first time in one and remembered his first time. He was probably thinking a lot like he had.

Teranus' arms and legs were fully strapped in, stopping him from being able to escape unless he teleported out. Lightning started on the chest piece, the only thing left to put back on other than the helmet, and took a step back to admire his handiwork once he was done. It fit a lot better than either had expected.

"So I'm guessing there's going to be a lot of fancy tech in this thing?" Teranus asked, still unsure as to whether or not he had made the right choice to help out. This was clearly a serious issue if he was being provided with all of this equipment for a simple reconnaissance mission, and while he was confident in his skills, it still made him wonder whether he was ready for whatever faced him.

"Well, I know you dislike having to rely on it too much, but I've taken the liberty to include a few things for you that you will most likely need." Lightning answered, and walked to a computer on the side of one of the cranes. He tapped in some commands and the cranes released, dropping Teranus to the floor with a heavy metallic thud. He landed on one knee and stood back up, getting used to the new weight that he carried with him.

"Now, the first thing you'll need to know about is this..." Lightning said, walking around to the armoured dragon and opening a screen built in to the suit just before his wrist, half covered by a touch-sensitive keyboard. "This is a relatively simple communications device. It won't transmit back to here, but a lot of the equipment on the base uses similar devices. It should automatically tune in to any frequencies and allow you to communicate with the base once you get close enough." Teranus nodded to show his understanding as Lightning went to retrieve the past necessary component for the armour. Teranus couldn't see what it was until he turned with it in his arms.

It was a large helmet, modded so that it would fit his head. Three metal spikes would provide room for his horns, and they looked even more deadly then his own. Instead of just two eye holes, the front of the helmet was largely some type of glass, which reached across in a long slit, coloured a metallic red. The rest was pretty much just metal plating that would fit on his head.

"Once you get this on I'll make sure it's hooked up to the armour, and show you the rest of the fun stuff." Lightning stated with a chuckle, and handed Teranus the helmet. He put it on swiftly, and was surprised to see that it didn't restrict his vision at all. That was, until Lightning made some adjustments on the armour and some small radar-like icon popped into view in the bottom left of his view, with a small red dot just to the left of centre.

"Can you see that?" Lightning asked, and Teranus nodded. "Good. That's your heads-up display working. It's a radar that will provide heat and movement signatures for you up to 30 metres. Your helmet will also record everything you see for up to a week and save it for future reference. Normally there'd be more clutter on it, but I've just given you the basics. Now the rest of the equipment is more complex..."

"What do you mean? How much did you pack into this exactly?" Teranus asked with a slightly nervous chuckle.

"Oh, some bits and pieces... None of my personal favourites, but they'll do." He said, before knocking on Teranus' back. He went to turn and hears a crash as he toppled one of the cranes by accident, still getting used to the new suit. He heard Lightning curse and chuckled.

"Hey, you should've been expecting me to do something like that." He said with an unseeable smile on his face.

"Yeah yeah, whatever..." Lightning responded, picking the crane back up. "I'll hook you into the air tanks on your back just before you leave. They've got about five hours of air in them, which should be plenty to get you to the base back with a couple of hours to spare. The device on your arm also provides you with a counter so you know how much you have left. Seeing as we don't know how the infection is spreading through the region, I've played it safe in case it's transmitted by air. For the time being, think of it as poison."

"So it's that risky, huh?" Teranus said with a sigh.

"Yep..." An awkward silence followed for a few seconds, before Lightning broke it. "Now have a few minutes to walk around, get used to the extra bulk you're carrying. You obviously won't be able to fly, but otherwise you should be able to move well. Gravity is slightly lighter there, so jumping should be normal as well even with that suit on."

"Good to know..." Teranus said as he moved around the hangar. The first thing he did was put back on his belt with his daggers and his rifle sling, as well as his trench coat with his concealed handgun. He then went about transferring the equipment from his leather armour's pockets into those of the metal one, such as his weapon's spare parts, extra ammo and medical equipment. Of the many things littering the hangar, one was a mirror, and Teranus trod over with the thuds of metal on concrete echoing his approach, to spare a few seconds and see what he looked at.

What stared back at him would make a lot of people very nervous. Thick metal plating covered his entire body, coloured a gunmetal grey, and the visor he wore glowed faintly. These combined with the look of his trench coat and weapons, made him look more threatening then he normally did. He cracked his neck and watched as his reflection did the same, some form of metal mesh or similar material sliding around to provide him with the ability to make such a movement. Teranus smiled to himself behind the visor. Normally he wasn't the proud type, but he looked good in this, and ready for about anything.

"Ok, enough of the admiring, time to get down to the rest of the preparation." Lightning spoke up, and entered the glass cube to put some form of crystals into the mechanical components on either side of the arch inside. Once they were in place, he stepped back out and gestured for Teranus to get in. He did so, and Lightning went about connecting the final pieces of the armour together, and Teranus heard a small beep as the oxygen tanks started being used. Not only was there a counter of approximately how much time he had on his armpad, but there was also a small gauge that read exactly how much air was stored in the tanks that popped up on his HUD.

"And just because you've got this suit on, it doesn't mean you're indestructible. Normally you would have a shield generator, but I couldn't manage to adjust the tech to make such a large one that could generate easily in time, so this'll have to do. It can stop some bullets quite effectively, but too many and it's useless. Energy based weapons will also fry it swiftly without the shielding. If the system shuts down, your best bet is to get out of it and move without it. It's already operating to make movement as easy as possible, and without that support you will not be able to move." Lightning stressed the last point, to which Teranus nodded.

"Now, no time to waste, we need to get you out there. And... Be careful. We've already lost two dragons out there, we don't need a third."

"Heh, is that concern I see?" Chuckled Teranus, to which Lightning chuckled as well and punched him, not bothering to hesitate about the armour. Many around the DSC knew that the two were close friends, and Lightning still didn't feel quite right about sending Teranus in with so little information. He'd seen a lot in his time, and lost many friends in the past. And he knew that even though Teranus wouldn't go down easily, neither of them had seen anything quite like this, which did indeed worry him.

"Just get the job done. Oh, and last thing: seeing as we can't communicate once the portal closes on this end, you'll be unable to get any support from this side. I've started a counter on this end that coincides with another on your armpad, this one." Said Lightning, tapping on a second timer that was larger than the air counter. "I'll open the portal back here once four and a half hours have passed here. Time moves differently out there, and the majority of your duration there will be at night. At the most I'll be able to maintain it for half an hour, then the portal gets too close to being overworked and I'll have to close it. So DON'T be late."

Teranus nodded to him and watched as he stepped outside of the glass cube, sealing the door and tapping on a keypad to make it airtight. He then walked over to his large monitor setup, and keyed in several things. Teranus turned towards the portal and watched as the tech on either side began to hum loudly and light up. He wasn't really sure what to expect, and as the noise neared deafening levels, bright blue sparks started generating inside the arch, all crossing in the centre. With a bright flash that forced Teranus to look away, the portal was opened, a mass of white light that filled the arch.

Teranus hesitated as he went to step in. He turned back to Lightning, who's emotions and thoughts were hidden well behind his face. He nodded to Teranus, and in return Teranus saluted to him, before turning back, and stepping through, letting the white light embrace him. Lightning watched as he disappeared, and wished him luck, before going about closing the portal.

----------

The experience was odd to Teranus. It was a lot like the feeling he got when he teleported, like he still existed, but had no physical form. The difference was that he only ever experienced a brief moment of the feeling before he normally rematerialised, whereas the feeling now continued for about thirty seconds, and he was being pulled rather than choosing where he was going. Concern started to creep into his mind. Was the portal doing what it was meant to, or had something gone wrong?

Just as he asked himself this question he felt himself touch down on solid ground, still in the same position he had been in, stepping forward onto a concrete slab with the view of a forest ahead. He turned back to where he'd entered to see the same glowing white arch floating in the air. It stayed there for a few moments longer, before it dispersed into small white particles that almost seemed to fade from existence. He turned back to face the forest, and noticed a small pillar of stone that at first he'd missed. He walked over and found an inscription in English, which read:

"Welcome to Eden,
a project developed by the DSC
with the plan to colonise the
universe."

Teranus chuckled mildly at what they'd decided to name the planet. Though it did seem to fit pretty well. The first landmark he noted was a large waterfall along a mountain range, sending a spray of water over the edge to create an unusual rainbow from the moonlight that didn't fade. Trees lined the edges of the river below and massed to form a forest in front of him, coloured like the leaves of Autumn, but showing no signs of falling off anytime soon. A large grassy plain faded into the distance behind him, a few trees dotted around dozens of waterholes. The sky was completely clear, not a single cloud in sight. There was two moons on this sky rather than one, orbiting practically right next to each other and giving a discerning illusion of eyes watching him. It was not how he expected... It seemed peaceful.

Teranus shook his head, refocusing on the mission. He opened his armpad and looked at the oxygen counter, which displayed just under five hours of air left. The larger counter read four hours, twenty-five minutes. He'd already wasted five gawking at the scenery. He started moving forward, his steps clanging quieter than when he was on Earth. Likely something about the gravity, he thought to himself, as he stepped off and onto a gravel path. This was not what the computer images had shown. There was no sort of black or purple anywhere to be seen. There was a great mystery here, and Teranus was going to get to the bottom of it. Unbeknownst to him, the reality was that the world was already doomed. He had just walked into the end of days for the planet, and had four and a half hours to survive.