Davie Jones: A New Blue House

            Davie watched from inside
his exoskeleton the battle taking place around him, his body floating in space.
He saw Efof's Space Eagle enter a small meteor shower and Efof began blazing
away at a Mauve Midget in his path, causing a brilliant purple and orange
explosion that sent meteor and ship fragments in every direction. Davie watched as the Space Eagle turned to fire at a Space
Corps Star Bugs, then suddenly Efof's ship slammed into a asteroid the size of Bristol. As Davie watched, a piece of
meteor hurtling at his head smacked his in the back of his helmet, knocking him
into a dazed state for a few moments.
 
 
*          *          *          Flashback         *          *          *
 
 
Davie crouched in the underbrush, slowly
moving forward in formation with the rest of the green clad members of his
platoon. His feet and pant legs were soaked in water and mud from the dense
underbrush that carpeted the rain forest floor. He stepped forward quietly,
scanning the jungle carefully as he peered through the sights of his M16
assault rifle. The straps of his helmet rocked gently back and forth,
occasionally tapping against the sides of his face, as he slowly stepped
forward. Sweat drizzled down his face, falling to the jungle floor in the
intense tropical heat. The air smelt of rain, and he could hear the soft crackling
of the machine the radio operator carried on his back. Thunder echoed above the
thick canopy that hung over the platoon of soldiers spread out in formation.
            The
commanding lieutenant raised his hand to signal a momentary halt, and moved
closer to the radio operator several meters away from Davie to whisper something into the phone
like mouth piece.  Davie continued
forward, constantly glancing down to make sure that he wasn't about to step
into a grass covered pit filled with Punji 
sticks, or set off a trip wire, or get himself caught in any other form
of booby trap.
            Over a few
meters away to Davie's
left the lieutenant continued to speak softly into the mouth piece, until a
single bullet tore off a part of his skull, splashing blood and brain matter
over the young radio operator's face. Immediately after, an explosion ignited
to Davie's
right, then another followed suit to his left, far enough away not to hurt him,
but this wasn't the case for some of the other men in the platoon. Blood
splattered over the nearby trees, and gunfire erupted from all around. "Take
cover!!!" shouted Davie
as he ducked down into the underbrush, taking aim at a khaki clad figure that
ran between the trees. He let off a short three round burst, hitting his target
with deadly accuracy.
            "Sergeant!"
shouted the radio operator as he ran up next to Davie, his face still drenched in blood, "The
lieutenant's dead! You're in command! We're cut off and surrounded! Orders?!"
            Davie pushed the radio man
into the underbrush, firing another burst of rounds at a man that was about to
fire an SKS rifle at them. "Sir, orders?!" shouted the radio operator once
again. "Form a defensive circle!" shouted Davie
as gunfire streamed in from every direction, "Conserve ammunition!"
            He fired long
burst into the forest. "You stay down!" he shouted at the radio operator,
pulling him over to a thick log that lay on the ground, "Tell them we need
immediate evac! Anything and anyone they can get a hold of!"
            The radio
operator ducked his head and started shouting into the radio's mouthpiece over
the gunfire and explosions. Davie
dropped down to one knee and fired a stream of bullets into the jungle.
"Grenade!" he shouted as hurled a fragmentation grenade at the oncoming waves
of NVA soldiers. The grenade exploded, taking with it a pair of soldiers. Davie popped a fresh
magazine into his rifle. He turned to look at the radio operator a couple of
meters away next to the log, only to find him dead, two large, bloody holes in
his throat. Next to the body, on the other side of the log, he saw the helmeted
head of a North Vietnamese soldier, crouched down reloading his SKS assault
rifle. Davie
charged over to the log, aiming his rifle down to fire.
            As he
pulled the trigger the M16 jammed. Davie
dropped the rifle to the ground and reached to unbutton the leather holster at
his waist. As he did so the Vietnamese man stopped reloading and leapt over the
log, a long, sinister, needle looking bayonet attached to the end of his rifle.
Before Davie
could pull his Colt 45. pistol from it's holster, the man lunged at him with
the bayonet. Davie
dashed backwards, taking a defensive stance. He swing his right arm down in a
circular motion, knock his enemy's rifle to the side, and in the same motion,
brought his fist upwards, punching him in the throat. The helmet fell from the
Vietnamese man's head and he dropped his rifle. Davie grabbed onto his shirt and delivered a
swift knee to the man's groin before hauling him upright to eye level. Davie swung his head at
the man's face, cracking his nose with his helmet. The man fell to the ground
and Davie pulled the pistol from his holster and aimed with a two handed grip
at the man on the ground, pulling the trigger three times, sending two bullets
into the man's chest and third into his head. Davie aimed the pistol into the jungle,
gunfire from both sides erupting around him.
Over the deafening noise of the
gunfire, Davie
could suddenly hear a loud, low pitched, slow beeping. He frowned. "Pause." he
said aloud, and the entire battle ground froze in place. Bullets hung in the
air and fragments of grenades and splintered wood froze midway through their
short lived hurdles along side the bloody mess that was spouting up from the
bodies of the soldiers from both sides of the skirmish.
Davie clapped his hands together once,
bringing him back into reality. He pulled off the AR helmet to be met by the
first officer of the transport ship. Davie
rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry to have interrupted your game, Mr. Jones," began
the first officer, "but we're coming up on Blue Dwarf and from this distance
you can see the entire ship."
"Thank you." said Davie, pulling off the gloves and boots to
the AR game. The two walked over to the port window and gazed out at the
massive five mile long mining ship that was to be his new home in the immediate
future. "How long till we dock?" asked Davie
curiously. "Another few minuets."  came
the reply. Davie
looked back out the window at the blue hulk of a ship that they were speeding
towards.
 
 
*          *          *          End
Flashback              *          *          *
 
 
Davie came to focus a few moments later, the
countdown time displayed in his helmet now read "9 minuets, 43 seconds"
            "Argh….rescue
party, whoever you are, hurry the hell up!" Davie shouted to himself.
 
 
<Tag/TBC>