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The First Page

You are Miranda Hoffman, leader of a paramilitary force that patrols a certain sector of space to keep order for the Galactic Empire. Your team is made up of three other people: Harry, John, and Luke. You all have undergone rigorous military training, including such training as firearms, survival tactics, and hand-to-hand combat. During one of your patrols, your team has found a derelict spaceship floating in an uncharted corner of space. You know this is outside your jurisdiction, but you decide to investigate anyway.



You and your team board the ship wearing space suits, since the life support systems are down. The ship seems to have been here a long time. There is dirt and grime on the dark blue walls. There are numerous geometric shapes jutting out of the walls. This is architecture that you have never seen before. Your team finds a square, grey door and opens it manually using Harry and John's physical strength. Inside there is a console full of buttons and switches. One switch has a sign that you recognize as the international symbol for "Life Support". You flick it on and air is pumped into the ship. 



Your team hesitantly takes off their helmets. You all find that you can breathe normally. Everyone then abandons their space suits and packs them into their backpacks. You continue to explore the ship and find yourself in a large, circular room that is pitch black.



Suddenly the lights come on by themselves. You turn around to see if anyone in the team has flicked a switch or pressed a button, but they're all directly behind and beside you. They're not close to any kind of control panel.



A cold, synthetic voice then comes on the speakers.



"Foolish humans," it says. "Do you think you could trespass in my domain with no repercussions? I am the great AMZAK! Bow before my superior intellect! Your race is inferior. Prepare to be assimilated, just like the old crew on this ship!"



You notice many doors on the walls of the room. They all open at once to a large swarm of cyborgs. This must be the old crew AMZAK was talking about. They are almost completely machine. The only thing left of them that is human is the right side of their faces. The other side is covered in a metal mask with wires and tubes running out of it to different parts of their bodies. Their left eyes are covered by red, translucent circles that each emit a thin red beam of light from the center. On their backs they each have a tube with an accordion. The accordion spreads and contracts at a consistent rhythm with their breathing. The rest of their bodies are a mesh of grey metal plating, wires and tubes. Their left arms are covered in wires, whereas their right arms each have a large sharp knife on the end.



They slowly move towards your crew. You all take out your pistols and point them at the cyborgs.



"Stop right there or we'll shoot," you yell out, a small tremor in your voice.



The cyborgs ignore your warning and keep walking towards you. You all begin firing. You shoot at their heads and bodies, blood spraying out from both. They're still human underneath, so they go down with one or two shots, but there's just too many of them. They start to close in on your team. You all move closer together as the army of cyborgs surrounds you.



"There's no way we can fight this many enemies," you tell your team. "We'll have to retreat!"



"But how?" asks Luke, obviously terrified. "They've got us surrounded."



"Shoot down as many as you can and clear a path," you reply. "That's the only way."



Each person in your team then goes on to do that, but in the ensuing chaos, you all take different doorways and end up split up from each other. 


BULLETS is 5.
HEALTH is 10.