Major O'Neil sipped his cup of tea, as he stood in full dress uniform on the balcony of the ancient abandoned fortress. Tiny flakes of snow drited down across his golden hair, drifted along the gold epalettes of his dress uniform, and settled on the surface of his hot tea, instantly melting away. Before him, parked on the ice of the lake below, sat the Ninthe Company's Strike Crusier. The cruiser had to make an emergency landing to elixit reparis on its hyperdive navigation computer.
Major O'Neils daring escape from the forces of Capitol had made the Holovids, and he had been toasted back home on Ceres the geat Cybertronic asteroid. The Immortal himself had said how he was doing a great job, and hinted that had they found O'Neil in a less that alive state, there were outstanding orders for his Diamondization. Diamondization was the ability to reinject life into a corpse. A free ticket from death reserved for only the greatest of warriors. Even his commanding officer Everassur Severus was not marked for Dimaondization. So, inbetween all the parties and the medals, he had been taken down to a secret lab where he had met the origonal Doctor Diana herself! Now His dna was floating in a vat in the belly of Ceres, just in case..
Major O'Neil pulled a cented hankercheif from the sleve of his dress uniform and dabbed tea from his pencil thin mustache as he remembered. Oddly enough though his commanding officer Everassur Severus had been at every award ceremony, the Everassur had not seemed very happy. O'Neil had told the Immortal "Well you know, Everassur Severus sits at a desk these days, and doest get the chance for a bit of daring do, like I do". Perhaps he had whispered that a bit too loudly. Everassur Severus might have overheard.
But the Everassur had agreed, that O'Neil was a brilliant warrior and tactitian. (Although he did caugh a few times after the word brilliant). And so O'Neil and the Nineth Company were ordered out to the front. O'Neil had to admit there was a bit of relief when the Strike Cruiser's hyperdrive navigation system went amok, and they dropped out of warp. It turned out they were not going to make the battle after all. In the three days that it would take to reapairi the ship, the fighting would be long over.
He read over the inquiry report in his other had as he sipped hot tea in the cold air. The investigation he had ordered had mentioned the possiblity of sabatoge. O'Neil had that wiped from the record. He knew it had not been sabatoge. The missing part was in his pocket.
Behind him crisp boots stepped quickly on the black rock of the ruins and then stood slient waiting for O'Neil to turn around. "Lieutenant Henry, reporting for duty Sir".
O'Niel put the report down on the black stone battlment and slid the hankerchief back into his sleeve. "How goes the repairs, Lieutenant", he said turning around.
"Very good sir!", said Henry smartly, arms behind his back in parade rest. "The engineers are ahead of schedule. We may be able to make the battle after all!"
"Well!", said O'Neil. "er... tell them not to rush... i dont want us all to get lost in the Warp and all... take your time and do it right the first time, I allways say".
"Yes sir!", said Henry smarly, his third arm snapping up a sharp salute. Henry had a horrifed look for a moment and the arm returned behind him.
O'Niel took another sip of tea. "Lieutenant.. I cant help but notice you have... a third arm".
"Er.. I dont understand, what arm sir?", said the Lieutenant nervously.
"Its right there, growing out of your left armpit", pointed O'Neil with the cup of tea.
"Oh!, Yes sir! That arm sir! Very good sir!", said Henry with a nervous laugh.
O'Neil took another sip. "Lietuenant Henry, I cant help but remember, but you did NOT appear to have a third arm yesterday".
"No, sir!", said Lieutenant Henry.
"Where did it come from then?"
"Perhaps its genetic?", offered Henry.
O'Neil nodded thoughtfully. "And do any of your family have history of sponaneous third arms? Mother? Father? Cousin?"
"No Sir".
"Well im affraid thats probably not it. Why dont you tell me everything you remember that happened between the time of having TWO arms, and this morning when you had THREE".
"Yes Sir", said the lieutenant. His face took on a glassy look and his mouth dropped open as he remembered. "You see.. with everyone camped in this abandoned church, me and some of the lads of Nineth Company were doing a bit of exploring sir, it being so massive and it beeing to cold and snowy outside to do anthying. Plus this powdery snow is the wrong sort to build snowforts."
O'Niel nodded encouragingly so the Lieutenant started talking more freely. "So we was down in the basement, and we found what appeared to be this large laboratory. Filled with vats of strange floaty stuff. On the floor there was these big glowing red runes see. So we decided it would be a good idea to sleep down there."
O'Neil raised a hand. "Lieutenant", O'Neil said softly "I have to call into question some of your Soldiering. Why did you want to sleep in the basement?"
"Well those glowing runes were awfuly warm. And me and the boys thought it would be good to put our bedrolls on them, it being so cold outside".
O'Neil nodded. "Well.. that makes some... sense... somewhat", said O'Neil. "But why didnt you report all this to your commanding officer?
Lieutenant Henry looked sheepishly at the floor "Well, sir, I should have.. but see there was only nine runes, and there were already eight of us sir, and we were afraid everyone would want one and there wasnt enough to go around".
Major O'Neil paused for a moment and put down his tea. "Well im sorry to report, Old Chap, that you seem to have been infected with Dark Synergy".
"Is it bad, Sir?", asked Henry.
"Fraid so, old bean", said O'Neil.
"Is there anything we can do about it?"
"Oh Yes!", said O'Neil jauntily. Turn around. Thats a good lad. Its a simple fix. The Doctors say a quick injection of lead will stop the spread.
"Oh.. good", said Lieutenant Henry, facing the other way. "I was worried there for a bit. A led injection you say? You mean like a shot?
"Er... yes!", said O'Neil un-buckling his service revolver. "Just like a shot".
"Will is sting?" Asked Lieutenant Henry.
"Only for the briefest of seconds", said commander O'Neil.
****
Private Cafferty walked down the stone spiral steps to the basement holding the two-way video holo infront of him like a ward against evil. On the holo, O'Neils beaming face encouraged him on. "Thats a good lad, not much further now". The private stepped out into a massive underground chamber carved from the same black stone as the abandoned fortress above. All around him were giant vats filled with murky green goo. Strange things swam in those vats.
"Do you hear buzzing", said the hologram of O'Neil. "Im pretty sure abandoned fortresses should not be buzzing". Private Cafferty was too terrifed to answer. The Private's feet keep moving foward though, as if of their own will. He walked into the center of the room where nine great red glowing runes pulsed in the floor like a heartbeat. On top of the runes, were several bloody corpses in bedrolls. The remains of Lieutenant Henry's platoon. In the middle of the ring of runs stood a twelve foot tall, beautiful woman.
"Now Here we go!", said the holigram of O'Neil. "Hold me up, Private so I can say hello.".
The woman in the middle of the room was completely naked, her pale alabaster skin pulsed rosily with the reflection from the red runes in the floor. She smiled at the Private and put her hands on her hips seductively. Her long black hair hung down brushing over the top of her ample boosom. "Oh.. a guest!", she said like a Lioness talking to a springbuck.
Private Cafferty held the holo out in front of him. The woman was beautiful. So beautiful that he could not look away. In fact, he didnt care about anything anymore, as long as he could gase on this lady's enrapturing form. He didnt even mind the six large spider arms that grew out of the woman's spine, and swayed menacingly. Somehow... somehow.. they just made her more beautiful.
"Um... Hello!", said the holo of O'Neil. Look.. just wanted to say sorry for stopping in your house. We had no idea anyone was home, the upper floors look abandoned. Our ship broke down, but were almost done.. So... er... thanks for the hospitality.. but we wont be long."
The naked giantess adressed the two way holoviewer. "Oh.. please stay longer. There are so many of you.. I can... sense it...". At the word sense the spider arms emerging from her back wiggled excitedly. "Why dont you come down here yourself and let me show you my hospitality?"
O'Neil gave the naked beauty a dashing smile and ran a finger across his pencil thin mustache. "Oh?", he said leaning in with anticipation. "And what kind of hospitality could that be?"
"I will reach through your mouth and suck your flesh out of your skin, like a soft boiled egg!", the woman screamed. The spider arms flashed out at Private Cafferty and everything went black.
O'Neil, far above watched the stactic on the holo video for only the briefest of seconds before pushing the button for General Alert. "All troops... this is Major O'Neil. This is not a drill. You are to fall back to the strike cruiser Imidately. Leave all equipment but weapons. This is a red alert. We have hostiles in the fortress. All hands retreat! All hands retreat! Now! This is not a drill".
Out the window, he could see members of the Nineth Company start running towards the frozen lake. They had been with O'Neil long enough that they were well practiced in a full retreat. His comlink chirped open. It was the engineers from the Strike Cruiser. "Major!", they said worriedly. "We cant take off! We have not completed repairs! What are we going to do?"
"No worries!", said O'Neil pulling the missing part out of his pocket. "While you techs have been fumbling about.. I.. er... fabricated a replacement myself.... out of a spare Atillia. Prepare for takeoff".
****
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